The Perfect Jutsu
by serpentguy
Summary: The Shadow Clone Jutsu had always been incomplete. It was meant to be the most unstoppable technique, but it had never been perfected. At least, that was until Naruto Uzumaki accidentally did something that should have been impossible... Strong, unique Kekkei Genkai Naruto.
1. Chapter 1: History of Shadow Clones

**The Perfect Jutsu**

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><p><span><strong>Summary:<strong>

The Shadow Clone Jutsu had always been incomplete. It was meant to be the most unstoppable technique, but it had never been perfected. At least, that was until Naruto Uzumaki accidentally did something that should have been impossible... Strong, unique Kekkei Genkai Naruto.

Rated M for violence, mature themes and future lemons.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1:<strong>

**The Secret History of the Shadow Clones**

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><p><em>Years ago…<em>

Tobirama Senju was not an emotional man. He was stoic, pragmatic and composed even in the worst situations. He had fought battles against immense odds without a hint of fear or hesitation, and he had walked over the bodies of his comrades to victory. His attitude was, in many ways, the pinnacle of what a ninja's should be.

That said, he couldn't help but feel just a hint of sadness as his quill darted over the parchment, illustrating complex seals with a smooth and steady hand.

"Another failure…" he muttered under his breath, staring down at his Scroll of Seals. This jutsu had been so promising as well.

"Cheer up, brother!" His brother, Hashirama Senju, shouted loudly, walking into the tent. "Today is a good day! Don't be so gloomy!"

Tobirama scowled. For all they were nearly inseparable, there were times that Tobirama became more than a bit annoyed at his elder sibling. Hashirama was everything that Tobirama wasn't; loud, brash, emotional and reckless. Although he would never admit it, it still stung slightly that Hashirama was also one of the most powerful ninja to ever walk the earth.

"You're in a good mood," Tobirama muttered, slightly bitterly, not looking up from his scroll. "Whose _wife_ did you do this time?"

Hashirama just laughed, dropping down onto a chair in the tent. "_Oh_, you are in a bad mood!" He chuckled. The First Hokage was absolutely shameless about his frequent… extra-matrimonial activities. "Nothing so crude! I just spoke with the builders and guess what? I've finally commissioned that monument!"

Tobirama turned to stare in disbelief. "Are you serious?" He muttered, wondering if his brother could really be so vain. "You mean you're _actually_ going built a fifty foot monstrosity of your own face overlooking the entire town?"

"It'll be good!"

"It's pure narcissism!" Tobarima objected. "We've been working for years to establish Konohagakure as a military force, and you want a giant statue of yourself!"

Hashirama pouted. "Don't be like that! You could get your own face up their too, someday!"

Tobarima scoffed, turning his attention back to his scroll. "I'd rather die than let that happen…" he muttered under his breath.

The Hokage just grinned. Annoying his little brother was such fun. "So, what's got you in a bad mood, then?" He asked curiously. "Another problem with that jutsu?"

"Another failure," Tobarima muttered despondently. "The clone jutsu I was working on is a failure."

The Hokage looked at his brother curiously. For all Hashirama was the God of Shinobi; a ninja of such power that he could make the world tremble, Tobarima was a prodigy. Hashirama's Kekkei Genkai meant that he very rarely had to work for anything, but Tobarima studied the art of chakra, seals and jutsu like a science. Tobarima was the inventor of a thousand different jutsus, and he knew more about the workings of chakra than any man alive.

Curiously, Hashirama inspected the seals written on Tobarima's scroll. The bits that he could understand were impressive. "'_Shadow Clone Jutsu_'…" He read slowly, frowning as he inspected the seals. "Oh, that looks _good_. You and I have very different definitions of failure, brother."

"This is nothing," Tobarima shrugged. "Useful enough, sure, but not what I was intending. It'll have to go in the scroll with all the other failures."

"Hmph, even if you're not happy with them, some of those jutsus are really dangerous," Hashirama commented. The Scroll of Seals was huge, but Tobarima was only halfway through filling it up. "I mean, Eight Trigrams Sealing? _Impure World Reincarnation_? That stuff is dangerous. I'm going to have to lock it up if you invent anymore forbidden jutsu."

Tobarima nodded distractedly, staring at the intricate markings and seals of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Even in its incomplete form, it was a jutsu that could change the world, but that didn't stop it from being a failure. For a moment there, Tobarima had really thought that he had finally achieved his ultimate jutsu.

"No…" He muttered quietly, closing up the seal quietly. "The Shadow Clone Jutsu is still only half-complete."

"Then what's the other half?"

Tobarima smiled softly. "That's the problem," he admitted. "I don't know."

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><p><em>Now…<em>

Naruto could feel his body trembling. He had never felt like this before. His mind was a storm of emotions and doubts, even as he hid behind the tree, clutching the Scroll of Seals tighter than ever before.

Everything had gone so wrong so quickly. All he wanted to do was graduate, but now Naruto had been framed for treason, hunted by the village, and his teacher was trying to kill him while his other teacher would die trying to protect him.

_And I'm the Demon Fox_… He thought with quiet dread. _The Nine-Tails_…

Behind him, Iruka faced off with Mizuki, the traitor. Iruka was bleeding heavily and on the ground, while Mizuka stood over him with a large shuriken. The only thing that stopped Naruto from breaking down completely was the sound of Iruka's voice, quiet and firm even as he faced death.

"…I've acknowledged him as…" Iruka muttered quietly, with words so heartfelt that they hit Naruto down to the bone. "…one of my excellent students!"

The statement hung in the air. For so long, all Naruto ever wanted was to be acknowledged. The quiet declaration was enough to cause his body to freeze. "He may not be the hardest worker," Iruka continued, with a small, gentle smile. "And he is clumsy and no one accepts him. He already knows what it is to feel pain inside your heart. He isn't the Demon Fox. He is a member of the Hidden Leaf village."

There were tears falling down Naruto's cheeks. His body felt numb. "He is Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto had never imagined that such a simple statement could take his breath away. Slowly, he stopped trembling, and his hands clenched into fists.

Mizuki just grunted, staring at Iruka angrily. "Well… whatever…" he said dismissively, spinning the shuriken nimbly around his fingers. "I said I would take care of you later, but I changed my mind!"

His body tightened as he prepared for the killing strike. Mizuki smirked while Iruka just watched, too injured to move. "Hurry up and die!" He roared, spinning his arm in a furious arc.

Time seemed to stop. Mizuki's screaming face. Iruka's gentle smile. All Naruto knew was that he couldn't let Iruka die. He could never let Iruka die.

Naruto's limbs moved by themselves. By the time his mind managed to catch up, he was already jumping through the air, slamming his knee into Mizuki's face. That moment when his leg collided with bone was the most exhilarating, terrifying and glorious of his life.

Iruka's eyes widened in shock. Mizuki went flying to the ground. The shuriken scattered to the floor and Naruto was glaring furiously as he faced off against the traitor to _his_ village.

"You shouldn't have done that!" Mizuki roared, recovering quickly.

The academy students eyes were cold. "Don't touch Iruka-sensei!" He muttered with quiet dread. "I'll kill you!"

"You idiot! Why did you come out?!" Iruka screamed in panic. Iruka cared for him. Iruka _cared_ for him. The thought was enough to make Naruto stronger than ever. "Run away!"

Mizuki was laughing. Naruto's blood was boiling. He could barely see through all the rage. "I'll kill you in one shot!"

"Try it trash!" Naruto growled, dropping into a fighting stance as he formed the hand seal. It was now or never. "I'll return the pain a thousand times over!"

"Come on, Demon Fox!" Mizuki roared, charging towards him.

Naruto took a deep breath, focused every ounce of chakra he had and screamed at the top of his lungs. "_**Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!**_"

The air pulsed with immense power. It was so much chakra that every sensor-type in the village shuddered. Naruto felt the power drain from him, so concentrated that the air distorted with the power. Mizuki stared at him with shock while the strain nearly took Naruto to his knees.

And then, with a terrifying silence, absolutely nothing happened.

Naruto was panting, glancing around at the empty forest in shock. "No…" He muttered with dread. "It was meant to work…"

After a moment's pause, Mizuki started to laugh again. A cold snide laugh that sent tremors down Naruto's spine. Naruto could barely breathe with the terror that filled his body.

"What a fool!" Mizuki mocked, glaring down at Naruto snidely. "As if someone like _you_ could ever perform the Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Naruto's arms were shaking. He had practised so hard to be able to master that one technique. It didn't work. Iruka stared at his apprentice with shock, feeling the emotion pouring out of the boy. "Naruto…" Iruka muttered breathlessly.

"Do you see, Iruka?" Mizuki taunted cruelly, drawing another shuriken. "He's nothing more than failure. _Dead last_. This… demon…" Mizuki spat the word. "… will never be a ninja!"

"Shut up…" Naruto whimpered quietly, hands trembling.

Mizuki just smirked. "He's _pathetic_."

Naruto glared at him with unrestrained ferorcity. "I said, _shut up!_" He screamed furiously. Suddenly, the boy's face contorted into an animalistic snarl. "_You will never insult me again!_"

_More power_, Naruto thought desperately as he raised the hand seals again. _I need more power_…

He was exhausted, but he pulled out more chakra than he had ever known before. The air started to glow intense blue. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" He roared, even as he felt his chakra dissipated into nothing. Naruto's fists tightened as he redoubled his efforts.

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Naruto bellowed, feeling the exertion tear his muscles apart. The air was sparking and crackling with power, but it didn't take any shape.

Mizuki was laughing. The teacher was clutching at his stomach in laughter at Naruto's useless efforts. Naruto's fists clenched so tight his fingers drew blood.

"_SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!_" Naruto bellowed, and the burst of chakra was enough to crack the ground and set the trees alight.

Iruka could only stare at his student in shock. He had felt so much raw chakra before. It was unrestrained and wild, but so intense that it was causing his body to tremble. He had never imagined that his student could have _this_ much power. "Naruto…!" He muttered in awe.

"_SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!_" Naruto screamed once more, and that blue chakra started to turn red. Iruka could only stare breathlessly.

_But it was useless_, Iruka realised slowly. Naruto was outputting enough power to make a thousand, ten thousand shadow clones, but his control was absolutely terrible. He was just pumping chakra into the atmosphere, rather than giving any shape. He would never perform the jutsu like that. He needed more than just brute strength.

_Naruto is going to kill himself_, Iruka thought in shock. _If he keeps on burning through chakra like this, he's going to die_. There was a reason why the shadow clone jutsu was a forbidden technique…

Suddenly, the memory of that moment in the classroom flickered in front of Iruka's eyes, where Naruto tried so desperately to perform a simple clone technique. Iruka had failed him for his efforts. _Did he really care so much about becoming a ninja?_

"… Naruto…" Iruka muttered, his eyes swelling with tears.

The boy was sagging now, struggling to stand even as his eyes burned with furious determination. Naruto gathered every last residue of chakra, every scrap of willpower, every residue of strength that he had left and he screeched so loud that birds erupted out of the trees from miles away.

"_**SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!**_"

Just for a second, Naruto's chakra turned pitch black.

And then, suddenly, there was silence. Naruto blinked repeatedly, before collapsing to his knees. As he turned, he saw another figure hit the ground next to him. Naruto was staring at an exact duplicate of himself; messy blond hair, whiskers on his cheek, bright orange jumpsuit. The single clone was pale, sickly and weak.

_All of that effort_… Naruto thought as his vision blurred, _and I only managed to make _one_ clone_…

"_Wow_, will you look at that? You actually did it." Mizuki stood over him as he looked between Naruto and his clone, both of them lying weakly on the ground. Even despite his fading consciousness, Naruto could hear Mizuki's sarcastic voice crystal clear.

"You must be _so_ proud," Mizuki mocked coldly, spinning his shuriken around his fingers.

That was the last thing Naruto remembered before Mizuki threw his shuriken straight downwards. With a sickening crunch, the metal edge crushed through Naruto's skull and he fell limply to the ground.

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><p><em>No. This can't be happening<em>.

Iruka's eyes were seeing everything, but his brain refused to accept it. Everything just shut down as his eyes widened in horror. It was impossible. It didn't happen. This was a nightmare.

But as much as he tried to deny it, Iruka was looking straight at the limp body of Naruto, lying on the ground with a shuriken embedded through his skull. Iruka tried to scream, he tried to wail, he tried fight, but suddenly the chunin was twelve years old again, watching his parents die.

Somehow, it hurt even worse this time around.

Mizuki was grinning. He was grinning even as he stepped over Naruto's motionless body. "Your turn, _sensei_," he said viciously, drawing a kunai from his pouch.

Iruka felt his hands tremble. His breathing was forced. All he could do was stare at Mizuki, just as all of that grief, rage and pain exploding inside of him.

"You bastard!" Iruka roared furiously, charging madly at Mizuki. There was no composure left, no restraint. He didn't even attack as a ninja, there was no skill or training involved, but instead Iruka just charged blindly at Mizuki, desperate to drag him to the ground. Mizuki sidestepped with ease, scoffing dismissively as he punched Iruka to the ground. Iruka was so injured that he went down easily.

"Just die already!" Mizuki snapped, bringing the kunai down into Iruka's chest. Between his injuries, his exhaustion and his grief, Iruka couldn't even find the strength to flinch.

_I'm so sorry, Naruto_…

And then, in an instant, there was an orange blur between them, catching Mizuki off-guard as a fist slammed into his face. Iruka's eyes widened in shock.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted. His voice sounded strained and weak. "Are you alright?"

"Naruto?" Iruka murmured dumbly, staring at the boy standing in front of him. _No_, Iruka realised, _this wasn't Naruto – this is the clone Naruto managed to create_. A solid Shadow Clone. But that meant…

In an instant, Iruka turned to gasp at the motionless body of the real Naruto. Naruto was completely still, with the shuriken in his head, and bleeding so heavily that his hair was stained red, but the realisation hit Iruka like a truck. _If the clone hadn't disappeared, then the real Naruto must still be alive!_

Iruka's head spun. Naruto needed medical attention quickly. Mizuki was in the way. Iruka had only one chance to save his student.

"Bastard!" Mizuki screamed, clutching at his bloody nose. Iruka was far too injured to win in a fair fight, but ninjas don't fight fair.

With a scream of desperation, Iruka launched himself at Mizuki. The traitor responded quickly by throwing his kunai into Iruka's stomach, but the chunin took the blow and kept on going. Mizuki never even had time to scream shout just as Iruka ripped the blade out of his own stomach and used it to slash Mizuki's throat open.

Blood splattered everywhere. Iruka screamed in primal rage, stabbing Mizuki repeatedly just to make sure he was dead. Iruka was losing too much blood, but the adrenaline pushed him forward. _I need to move_, Iruka thought desperately, letting the traitor's body drop as he turned towards Naruto.

The Naruto-clone looked between Iruka, Mizuki's body and the wounded Naruto. "What's going on?" He asked nervously, voice trembling. "What's happening?"

Iruka could hardly even see straight, but the sight of that shuriken embedded into the back of Naruto's skull made his whole body tremble. Naruto's heart was beating, but it was very faint. The shuriken was in so deep that he dared not pull it out.

A head injury, and a bad one at that. It was enough to make Iruka's blood run cold. Head injuries were a field medic's worst nightmare. Naruto needed proper medical attention right now.

"Come on," Iruka gasped, gingerly lifting Naruto off the ground, while cradling his head carefully. The chunin was so weak he was struggling to stand, but he couldn't afford to collapse yet. "…Hold on, Naruto…" He begged quietly, before erupting through the forest at a breakneck sprint.

Iruka's heart pounded like a drum as he ran, leaping between branches until he saw the fence surrounding the village. He left a trail of blood with every step. The Naruto-clone ran next to him, struggling to keep up but asking a stream of insistent questions. Iruka never bothered to answer them, but he needed to hear Naruto's voice. So long as that clone hadn't dissipated, then Naruto stood a chance.

_He actually managed to produce a Shadow Clone_, Iruka thought in a near-delirious haze. That was a B-rank technique, at least, yet Naruto created a Shadow Clone as an academy student. A fairly solid Shadow Clone, as well, judging by the clone's apparent intelligence. In any normal circumstances, Iruka would have been so proud of his student.

_Please let me have the chance to graduate him_, Iruka begged desperately. _Naruto deserves to graduate._

The village zoomed in view. Iruka debated going to the hospital, but the Hokage Tower was closer. He couldn't be sure that the doctors in the hospital wouldn't just let the 'Demon Fox' die, anyways. Around him, the ninjas that had been searching for Naruto yelled at Iruka as he ran passed, but Iruka didn't have the time to stop. He was heading straight for the Hokage. The Third was the only one who could save Naruto now.

"Iruka!" A voice yelled to his right as a man materialised next to him, easily keeping pace with the chunin. Iruka turned to see a jonin with messy white hair, his face mostly hidden under a black mask. The jounin glared at Iruka and the Naruto-clone with a single, attentive eye, before focusing on the bloody Naruto cradled in Iruka's arms. "What happened?"

Iruka was gasping for air so badly that he could hardly talk. Still, he just kept running, even despite the growing blood loss. "…Mizuki… Naruto… Injured…"Iruka panted, his strength fading but his legs were relentless. "…_Hokage_…"

Quietly, the silver-haired jounin seemed to put the situation together. "Right," he muttered coolly, before disappearing into a blur with the Body-Flicker Technique.

Ten seconds later, as Iruka reached the Hokage Tower, that jounin had already alerted the Anbu, and was there holding the gates open. Iruka never even had time to be surprised at the man's insane speed.

"Hurry up," the jounin said urgently, but with no trace of panic. "The Hokage is waiting."

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen, met them on the stairs, flanked by two Anbu, staring at Naruto's limp body with cold determination. The kindly old man was gone. Iruka almost collapsed from exhaustion as he sprinted up the stairs, but the jounin was there to snatch Naruto's body out of his arms and hold him out for Hiruzen.

There was just a hint of distress flickering across Hiruzen's stern, wrinkled face as he noticed the shuriken embedded deep into Naruto head. "What happened?" He demanded, while checking the boy's pulse and breathing.

"… Mizuki… traitor…" Iruka gasped, struggling to stay conscious. He was already leaving a puddle of blood on the floor.

The Hokage grunted, his attention focused solely on Naruto. "I see," he said simply, clenching his fists. "My office. Now."

The two Anbu took Naruto and carried him with careful haste. Hiruzen followed with surprising speed, already shouting orders for medical supplies. Iruka tried to follow, but his legs refused to go any further. The sliver-haired jounin was there to catch him.

"Naruto…" Iruka gasped weakly.

The jounin's partially visible face was completely impassive. "Bandage yourself up first," he said coolly, before walking away. "The Hokage will take it from here."

"Kakashi!" Hiruzen ordered loudly. "Secure the perimeter! Not a word about this to anyone!"

The silver-haired jounin, Kakashi, nodded. "Yes sir," he said quietly, just as he disappeared in a burst of speed.

Iruka could only watch weakly as the Hokage lay Naruto on his desk and quickly got to work. The Anbu were sent off for bandages, disinfectants and hot water, while Hiruzen quickly used basic medical ninjutsu. His hand glowed green as it hovered around Naruto's skull, assessing the damage expertly. The Hokage was not a medical-nin, but as 'The Professor' he was adept at just about every form of jutsu. Still, his wrinkled face seemed to age several years as he inspected Naruto.

"How is he?" Iruka asked desperately, clutching at his wounds as he staggered through the door.

"Not good," Hiruzen admitted. "There is swelling in his brain and I fear his whole body is shutting down. I must remove the shuriken and reduce the pressure. I need a scalpel and anaesthetic now!"

Quickly, another two Anbu, who Iruka hadn't even realised were present, saluted and disappeared in a flash. Iruka was trembling as he rushed to Naruto's side, holding his hand tightly while Hiruzen twisted Naruto onto his chest.

Suddenly, the Naruto-clone smashed through the door. The atmosphere was frantic, and the clone looked wide-eyed and crazed. "Will someone please tell me what's going on here?" He shouted, staring between at the original version of himself on the table and the Hokage. "Old man, what's happening?"

Hiruzen frowned at the sudden intrusion. "What is this?" He demanded, glaring at the doppelganger.

"Shadow clone," Iruka said simply.

"Hmm…" The Hokage nodded, still looking curiously at the clone. "Then that is a good sign. It means the original body is still providing chakra. There is a chance."

Kakashi reappeared quickly, pushing through the Naruto-clone without a second glance. "Area secured, sir," he said smoothly. The expensive Hokage desk was smeared with blood. All of the paperwork had been shoved to the floor.

"Good," Hiruzen said distractedly, gathering chakra into his hand with expert control. "Let's not cause a panic. Kakashi, you monitor Naruto's breathing and pulse, warn me if it fails."

"Yes sir,"Kakashi agreed, crouching by Naruto's side, next to Iruka. His eye lingered slightly on the seal on Naruto's chest, circling around his bellybutton. "If this boy dies, what happens to the Nine-Tails?"

"Naruto is more than just the Nine-Tails!" Iruka snapped, every nerve on edge.

"Enough! Focus!" Hiruzen ordered firmly, not looking up from his patient as he, very carefully, levered the shuriken out of Naruto's skull. "We will not let him die!"

The Naruto-clone watched in speechless horror as the three men crowded around his other limp body. Blood and brain fluid leaked everywhere, despite the Third's best attempts to seal the wound.

"Bandages!" He ordered, injecting a needle into Naruto's body.

"Here," Kakashi offered quickly. All laziness was gone; the jounin was completely focused on the task at hand. It was a good thing that ninjas generally weren't squeamish. There was a second when Iruka realised he was staring at Naruto's exposed brain, leaking fluids everywhere. Iruka had to go sit down when his hands started shaking too much.

The Naruto-clone just watched in horrific fascination as the Hokage fought to save his life.

"His breathing is faint," Kakashi warned.

"Curse it, there's too much swelling," the Hokage muttered, holding out a hand. "Scalpel."

"Here."

"Disinfectant."

"Here."

"Oh god…" The Naruto-clone choked, looking ready to barf. Iruka was too focused to pay it much attention, but alarm bells started ringing in the back of his mind. _Could Shadow Clones actually puke?_

"Too much damage!" The Hokage exclaimed furiously, the chakra flowing from his hands. His muscles were tensed. "I can't…"

"Should I get more medic-nins?" Kakashi asked urgently.

"Not even Tsunade could help with this…" He groaned with a stream of curses as his chakra tried to knit flesh and bone back together. Brain tissue was infamously hard to heal.

"His pulse is failing!" Kakashi shouted loudly. "He's not breathing."

"_Dammit_!" Hiruzen cursed, visibly strained. "Turn him over, perform CPR!"

"Naruto!" Iruka screamed, stumbling to his feet.

Hiruzen just glared furiously, forming hand seals in rapid succession. Quickly, he generated lightning chakra on his palms and pressed it to Naruto's chest. The boy's body shuddered.

"Nothing," Kakashi warned.

"Adrenaline," he ordered, biting his lip as he gathered lightning again. "I need adrenaline now."

Kakashi produced a syringe and jabbed it into Naruto's sternum. Hiruzen abandoned the lightning, and instead used chakra to try and massage his heart. The minutes dragged on in a frantic, tense silence. Iruka couldn't even breathe with the tension. Hiruzen was sweating madly.

Naruto never moved.

After what felt like a lifetime, Kakashi slowly stopped monitoring his pulse and stood up. Hiruzen never stopped attempting the medical jutsu. Kakashi's voice was so quiet. "Sir…" He whispered gently.

"No!" Hiruzen snapped, his composure visibly cracking. "Not yet!"

Iruka's face was deathly pale. "…No…" He muttered in pure horror.

Another two minutes ticked by in silence. Iruka collapsed to his knees. Hiruzen's hands were trembling, struggling to maintain the chakra.

"_No!_" He shouted in frustration, panting heavily as his control failed him. The Hokage looked older than ever at that moment.

Slowly, Kakashi took Hiruzen's hands and pulled them away from Naruto. "He's dead, sir."

The room turned deathly quiet. Nobody dared to even breathe. For a few seconds, everything was still.

They were all smart men, but they were also very emotional and very focused on their task, and sometimes even smart men took a long time to realise obvious things. Even when that obvious thing was quite literally standing right in front of them.

The Naruto-clone looked between each of them hesitantly. "Huh…" Naruto announced in a tense, quivering voice. "…That was _so_ weird…"

Everyone froze. They turned to stare at the Naruto standing in the office, and then at the other Naruto lying dead on the desk. Their bottom jaws hit the floor.

* * *

><p>"Can you please tell me what's going on here, old man?" Naruto pleaded nervously, as Hiruzen pulled him into the adjoining room. The normally calm Hokage was visibly shaken. The twelve year old boy couldn't understand what was happening, and he was nearly bouncing around in apprehension. The questions were killing him. "What <em>was<em> that back there? What's up with this Shadow Clone Jutsu? What happened to Mizuki? Just what is that weird guy hiding under his mask–"

"Naruto," Hiruzen said in a firm voice that made Naruto stop talking. The Hokage wasn't strict very often, but when he was everyone knew to listen to him. Still, Hiruzen's voice sounded just a bit… _off_. "Please calm down. I wish to examine you for a moment. Then I will answer your questions."

Naruto gulped. "Alright," he said nervously.

Hiruzen bent down and used medical-jutsu to examine Naruto's body. His skin tingled as the Hokage's glowing hands swept over his body. Hiruzen frowned. Naruto did his best to stay still, but it wasn't easy.

"What is your favourite food?" Hiruzen demanded after a pause.

Naruto frowned. "What?"

"Answer the question." The Hokage's voice left no room for argument.

"Ramen, of course," Naruto said with a frown. "Ramen is awesome."

Hiruzen kept his face calm, but Naruto could see the lines around his eyes tighten. The Hokage then formed the hand seals to dispel genjutsu, examining Naruto critically. Nothing changed.

"What mark did you score on the last Academy exam?" Hiruzen asked eventually.

Naruto's shoulders sagged. "I failed…" he muttered miserably. "Seven percent…"

The Hokage hesitated for a moment. Then, he knelt down next to Naruto and stared at him critically in the eyes, as he took Naruto's hand. "Tell me something," Hiruzen asked finally. "Does this hurt?"

As quick as flash, Hiruzen fingers flashed out with a tiny blade of chakra, sharp enough to cut through Naruto's skin. Naruto flinched, clutching at his hand, but Hiruzen's grip was firm. "Ouch!" Naruto exclaimed. "Of course that hurts!"

Nimbly, the Third Hokage caught and examined a drop of blood trickling out the tiny cut. "Shadow Clones don't bleed…" he muttered, so quietly Naruto could barely hear him.

"Old man, you're freaking me out now…" Naruto muttered nervously. "Seriously, what's going on?"

Hiruzen paused, struggling with some internal dilemma. "Naruto…" he said quietly. "Please wait here. I promise I will be back shortly to answer all of your questions."

With that, the Hokage returned to his office. He paused to order an Anbu to retrieve the Scroll of Seals from the woods, and then he spent most of the next hour critically examining the forbidden scroll in great detail.

* * *

><p>It was nearly dusk by the time Hiruzen was finally able to talk to anybody. He had ordered several jounins to keep a very close eye on Naruto, while he spent most of the time researching everything his mentor, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, left behind.<p>

Roughly two hours ago, he had reached a conclusion, but he kept on researching because he really didn't like the conclusion he reached.

Now, though, he had to act, and he summoned both Kakashi and Iruka into his office for a private meeting. Hiruzen was pacing across his office as he waited.

Iruka had been bandaged up and treated, but he was still fidgeting with nerves. He had watched the Anbu take Naruto's corpse out of the office. There were still bloodstains on the carpet. The chunin was a wreck of nerves and doubts.

"What is happening here?" Iruka demanded as soon as he walked through the door. "What happened to Naruto?"

"I'm fairly curious about that myself," Kakashi chimed in. The jounin was already sitting, but his single visible eye was alert. "Shadow Clones should disappear when the original is knocked unconscious. How did that one survive when the original was dead?"

Hiruzen didn't respond straight away. "Please, Iruka," he said in the softest voice possible. It had been a long day for all of them. "Sit down. We need to talk."

Grudgingly, Iruka dropped to the chair in front of the Hokage's desk. Hiruzen sighed, and then took his seat. The old man hesitated.

"Tell me something…" The Hokage said slowly. "Have you ever heard of the concept of the perfect jutsu?"

Iruka frowned. Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Yes," the jounin said carefully. "My mentor talked about it once."

Iruka nodded. "Yes, Minato would know," he mused. "The Flying Thunder God Technique has long been cited as a candidate for title of the 'perfect jutsu'. However, the actual term was coined by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, who spent a great deal of time trying to develop the elusive _perfect jutsu_."

Hiruzen paused to light his pipe, taking a deep breath. "Tobirama believed that he could develop a jutsu so flawless; one with no disadvantage, with no equal, and then he could use this jutsu to bring peace to the world. If there was ever a technique that powerful, then one man could effectively render every other jutsu completely obsolete," the Hokage explained carefully. "And Tobirama came fairly close, as well. Of all the hundreds of jutsus that Tobirama created, there are two that potentially deserve the title of the 'perfect jutsu': the infamous Impure World Reincarnation, and the Shadow Clone Technique."

Kakashi frowned. "What?" He muttered. "But _lots_ of people know how to use the Shadow Clone Technique. I can use it. It's a fairly useful, sure, but it's definitely not unbeatable."

"Yes," Hiruzen agreed. "That was because, in Tobirama's eyes, the Shadow Clone Jutsu that he invented was always just a pale imitation of what he wanted to create. You are completely correct; the Shadow Clone Technique has many disadvantages."

He leaned forward is chair, stroking his beard softly. "Shadow Clones are chakra constructs of the original. They may be able to siphon the original's strength, but that is all they can do. They can mimic the original's personality and skills, but they have none of their own. Each shadow generally has very limited intelligence, and they aren't actually _alive_," Hiruzen explained. "Shadow Clones are simply _projections_ of the original at a certain point in time. They are essentially empty shadows of the user, hence the technique's name.

"But, originally, Tobirama wanted to create something more. He wanted the ultimate clone technique," Hiruzen said with a distant look in his eyes. "Tobirama failed, but now it seems that, somehow, Naruto Uzumaki has succeeded where the Second Hokage could not."

Iruka looked confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the Naruto downstairs is not a Shadow Clone," Hiruzen with a sigh. "He is an exact, living, breathing, flesh and blood, clone of Naruto Uzumaki. In other words, Naruto has just discovered the _true_ perfect jutsu."

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><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

**Well, this is my first Naruto fanfic. I've been wanting to write one for ages, but this is the only one that I've actually been comfortable with uploading. There are a lot of God-Mode Naruto stories on this site, so I figured that I wanted to do my own version. I wanted a story with a good justification for Naruto becoming really strong. More details about Naruto's new power will be coming next chapter.**

**Current release schedule is undecided, though the next chapter should hopefully be coming fairly soon.**

**As for pairings? Yes. There most definitely will be... :)**

**Reviews and comments are always much appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2: Doomed

**The Perfect Jutsu**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto.<strong>

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 2:<strong>

**Doomed**

It was past midnight as Naruto shuffled tiredly up towards the Hokage's office, yawning tiredly and rubbing his eyes. He was still wearing his pyjamas, but the boy had been shook out of bed by the masked Anbu and told simply that the Hokage needed to speak to him. At this time of the night, the village was quiet and asleep, but the light in the Hokage Tower was still on.

Naruto paused to glare angrily at the two Anbu flanking him on both. The masked men were professional to the point that they almost seemed like robots. Naruto was used to the Anbu following him occasionally, but the Hokage had assigned an entire four man squad to look after him for the night.

As Naruto approached the office, he could just hear the sound of indistinct yelling coming from inside. There were people arguing in there. _Something's going on_, Naruto decided, staring suspiciously at the door, but he just couldn't make sense of it. His head was a turmoil of emotions and doubts that left him physically shattered. All he wanted to do was just collapse onto the floor and sleep.

And he was also exhausted. He had never felt chakra fatigue like this before. He had to eat through all of his emergency ramen stash before he even had the strength to move. His body groaned in protest with every step.

After a few minutes, the Hokage walked out the door and met Naruto and the Anbu stiffly. The old man looked tired.

"Naruto…" He said gently. "Thank you for coming."

"What's happening, old man?" Naruto demanded. "You promised you'd explain everything."

"And I will," Hiruzen nodded, before turning to one of the Anbu. "Captain. Were there any difficulties?"

The Anbu captain saluted sharply. "He tried to run away five times, two of my men were hit by stink bombs, and we had to disarm several traps before we could even enter his apartment."

There was just the faintest hint of accusation in the Anbu's tone. Even despite his tiredness, Hiruzen's eyes shone with humour. "Well then," the Hokage said sternly, glancing down at Naruto. "Thank you, Naruto, for doing your part to ensure that Anbu's finest stay alert. Now, excuse us, captain, please return to your post."

The Anbu disappeared in a flicker of speed. "Old man," Naruto protested. "What was that with the–"

"Not here. Inside my office," Hiruzen ordered. Naruto glared at him and folded his arms stubbornly, and the Hokage's face softened. "Please, Naruto."

Naruto fumed slightly as he walked into the office. The room was still a mess of blood and papers across the floor. There were two people in the room; Iruka was pacing by the bookshelves, while Kakashi was sitting down, but looked visibly agitated. As soon as Hiruzen entered the room, he closed the door firmly and activated the privacy seals.

"Lord Hokage!" Iruka demanded. "So what are we going to –"

"Not now," Hiruzen interrupted, with a pointed glare at Naruto. Naruto remembered the arguing he had heard. "We will save that discussion for another time. For now, Naruto, I need your help."

"My help?" Naruto repeated, looking towards Iruka questioningly. "Iruka-sensei, what's going on here?"

"It's alright, Naruto," Iruka soothed. "We just need to sort a few things out first."

"I will answer your questions," Hiruzen promised. "But first, you need answer something for me."

"What?"

The Hokage took a seat, picking up his pipe and taking a large breath. "Naruto, when you were in the woods with Mizuki, and you performed that clone jutsu," Hiruzen asked carefully. "Do you think you could do it again?"

Naruto hesitated. The memory of that tense moment, that fear, and that weird black chakra was so intense it hurt. "You mean the Shadow Clone Technique?"

"Yes," Iruka said quickly, glancing at Hiruzen fleetingly. "If you can do that again, then you can graduate."

Graduate. That word caused Naruto's face to light up. It was the whole reason he stole the scroll in the first place. "Alright," Naruto said with a big smile. "I remember how I did it."

He took a deep breath as he raised his hands into the pose, moving through the seals carefully. The room was quiet as they watched him crudely mould chakra with horrible precision. Discreetly, Kakashi slowly levered up the headband covering his other eye, burning Naruto's every movement of into his memory.

"Ok…"Naruto panted, trying to recall how the technique had felt when he used it at last time. His chakra was bubbling, but it was easier second time around. "…Here goes…"

"_**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**_"

It was lucky that Hiruzen's office was sealed to conceal chakra, otherwise the sudden outburst would have caused alarm. Still, the explosion of raw chakra took them all off-guard, while Naruto groaned as he continued to force the power out of him. His chakra swirled around him like a blue cloak, while Naruto's eyes bulged under the strain.

Then, with a grunt of exertion, Naruto's chakra turned pitch black. Hiruzen dropped his pipe in surprise, even as the chakra suddenly churned and took shape. It materialised into a single figure standing next to him, appearing with a blur of energy as all that chakra solidified.

"Fascinating…" Hiruzen mumbled quietly, eyes unblinking. In an instant, there were two identical Narutos standing in the centre of the room.

Naruto blinked, shoulders sagging as he turned to face his doppelganger and smiled widely. "I did it!" Both Naruto and the Naruto-clone shouted happily, before high-fiving each over. Then, they both shuddered and collapsed with a groan of pain.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted in alarm, rushing to catch his student before hesitating as he realised he didn't know which one to catch.

Both Narutos were pale and sweaty, struggling to stand. Hiruzen was there quickly, propping them up against the chair as he checked the temperature of the first one.

"Extreme chakra exhaustion," the Third Hokage decided, in a low mumble. "Nasty, but not life-threatening. Remain calm, Naruto."

Hiruzen's hands glowed with energy as he pressed his palm to Naruto's chest, expertly healing the student's burnt out chakra coils. Quickly, Naruto began to stir, while the other Naruto was still mumbling weakly. Iruka took the opportunity to poke the clone curiously.

"Urgh… sorry, it's still not perfect…" Naruto mumbled, pulling himself up slowly. He looked between his fatigued clone and Iruka awkwardly. "But, I did it, right? That's a Shadow Clone, yeah? So I graduate then?"

No one replied. Slowly, Hiruzen bent down to inspect the clone. The other Naruto was mumbling slightly, eyes unfocused and weak, but he was definitely alive. The Hokage stared at the clone for a long time. "Naruto…" he asked finally. "Could you do me a favour? Could you please turn around and look at the wall?"

Naruto frowned confusedly, but he turned hundred and eighty degrees to face the wall anyways. "Why?"

Hiruzen slowly extended three fingers in front of the face of the Naruto-clone, all the while staring intently at the standing Naruto. "Naruto, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Huh?" Naruto mumbled bewilderedly. "Three, of course."

He never turned around. Nobody else in the room spoke. "Naruto…" Hiruzen asked very carefully. "How did you know that?"

Naruto turned to stare at him as if were the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, I can see you, obviously–" He started before realising what he saying. Naruto blinked repeatedly. The clone started to stir, frowning as he looked up at Hiruzen.

"Oh, _that's_ weird…" Naruto muttered quietly, realisation dawning. Both clones turned to stare at each other carefully, frowning as they looked into each other's eyes and saw reflections. "I can see out of his eyes. Wow, this is _so_ freaky…"

"Tell me about it," the other Naruto agreed, tilting his head as they looked at each other. The two Narutos mimicked each other's motions perfectly.

"Indeed," Hiruzen mumbled quietly, before pausing in thought. Then, the old man's hand shot out, flicking the closest Naruto on the forehead with a dull snap.

Both Narutos flinched. "Ow!" The both exclaimed at the same time, hands going up to their forehead. "What was that for?!"

It took one Naruto a few seconds to realise that _his_ forehead didn't actually hurt. "_Oh_…" he muttered slowly, staring at his hand in realisation. The two clones looked at each in realisation.

Everyone was staring at him in speechless silence. "How is this is possible?" Iruka asked breathlessly, glancing at the Hokage.

"Two bodies, two minds, but only a _single_ consciousness," Hiruzen mumbled quietly, deep in thought. "Thoughts and feelings are transferred freely between both hosts."

It took a while for Iruka to realise the consequences of that statement. "So any pain is transferred…?"

"Yes, pain is transferred. However, the physical injury is not," Hiruzen said quietly, eyes focused solely on the Narutos. He hesitated for half a second. "Naruto, do you remember that injury Mizuki gave you?"

In an instant, the bright smile disappeared with memory. "Umm…" Naruto muttered uncomfortably, scratching at the back of his head instinctively. "…Yeah, I remember… I mean, I was pretty out of it at the time, but…"

His voice trailed off into an indistinct mumble. Hiruzen was looking at him quickly. "What did it feel like to die?" He asked in a quiet voice.

Narutos' eyes dropped to the floor, shifting his feet awkwardly. "… It didn't actually _hurt_…" He mumbled, trying to find the words to describe that surreal experience. "… I mean, it wasn't nice, but… Well, it was just really strange…"

Nobody spoke. Hiruzen turned to look between Kakashi and Iruka, a silent conversation passing between them.

"Naruto," Iruka said quietly, taking Naruto's hand gently. "I need to talk to the Hokage for a bit. Would you mind waiting outside?"

"Does this mean I've graduated?" Naruto said eagerly.

Iruka nodded. "Yes, you've graduated," Iruka paused and then took off his head protector, handing it Naruto gingerly. "I will see you at the Academy tomorrow."

Naruto stared at the head protector in awe, a huge grin splitting his face. The other Naruto jumped for joy, and they both laughed happily. "Yes!" He shouted, looking around the room cheerfully. Hiruzen smiled softly. Both Narutos hesitated, before nodded eagerly and running out of the room.

Kakashi closed the door behind him. "Well then…" Hiruzen muttered after a pause, making sure that the Narutos had left. "That answers many of our questions. Multiples bodies, but a shared consciousness."

"So when Mizuki killed the original Naruto…?" Iruka asked with a knot in his stomach.

Hiruzen shook his head, smoking on his pipe as he thought. "That is the beauty of this clone technique; any distinction between the original and the clones becomes meaningless. They are both simply Naruto," Hiruzen explained. "Two bodies, _one_ person. Mizuki might have killed one body, yet Naruto's soul was still bound to the mortal coil by his second body. When one body died, his conscious simply transferred to its remaining host. So no; Naruto didn't die, and there are now two Narutos standing outside this room. Both of them are Naruto in every sense of the word."

"What about the Nine-Tails?" Kakashi asked quietly. "Is it still sealed even after the body died?"

"The Nine-Tails is a being of pure chakra. It does not have a physical form, per se," Hiruzen mused. "And the Eight Trigrams Seal bound the demon to Naruto's spirit, not to his body specifically. Naruto's spirit remains intact, and so the seals remains intact. Naruto is still the container of the Nine-Tails, regardless of how many pieces that container has been split into. Remarkable…"

The room was quiet as they digested the information. Hiruzen took continuous breaths of his pipe. "How did this happen?" The jounin asked after a moment's silence.

"I'm not sure," Hiruzen admitted, sitting down back at his desk. "A combination of raw power, determination, emotion, a fairly unique heritage, all amplified by the presence of the Nine-Tails, perhaps? Beginner's luck? You'd be amazed at the number of impossible things that have been achieved by novices with no understanding of why they should be impossible."

Hiruzen quite deliberately didn't mention that black chakra. He had his theories, but they weren't very nice ones. He would have to investigate more, but it would do no good to say them now.

Iruka frowned, still processing the Hokage's words. "Wait, unique heritage? Naruto's an orphan."

The Third Hokage sighed. "Yes, but his parents…" he hesitated. "… the Uzumaki have always been characterised by a natural vitality and large chakra reserves. Naruto is a direct descendent of the first clan of the Whirlpool Village."

Kakashi looked at the Hokage curiously. "I thought that all the main clan were all killed in the world war," he noted. "I just assumed that Naruto was from some distant branch family that kept the surname."

"Most of the Uzumakis were," Hiruzen admitted. "The survivors were scattered across the globe. Precious few of the main line survived, but…" He paused. "… but there was _one_ Uzumaki that was living in Konoha at the time Uzushiogakure fell."

Kakashi looked confused. Hiruzen hesitated. "Naruto's parents…" Hiruzen explained carefully. "… _Both_ died the night the Nine-Tails attacked."

After a few seconds, understanding clicked. Iruka never got it, but Hiruzen saw the realisation flicker in Kakashi's eye. The jounin glared at the Hokage, putting the pieces together silently.

"Oh, you _bastard_…" Kakashi cursed angrily, hands tightening into fists.

"I don't understand." Iruka looked between the two men uncertainly. "Who were Naruto's parents?"

"Naruto's parents…" Kakashi said in quiet outrage, before Hiruzen could respond. "… Are Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki. That makes _me_ his bloody godfather, doesn't it?!"

Iruka's mouth dropped open. Hiruzen just nodded. "Yes," he replied quietly. "Both you and Jiraiya were named as Naruto's godparents."

"Does Jiraiya know about him?" Kakashi demanded.

Hiruzen shook his head. "Oh, _you bastard_!" Kakashi repeated furiously, glaring at Hiruzen angrily. "_You_ said the child died with Kushina!"

"I lied. Kushina survived long enough for Minato to seal the Nine-Tails inside of Naruto," Hiruzen admitted.

"Wait, Naruto is the son of the _Fourth Hokage_?!" Iruka exclaimed, gaping at the revelation. "But… But…"

"That information will not leave this room," Hiruzen warned darkly, his eyes flashing. "Naruto's parentage is an S Class secret and it will be preserved."

Kakashi looked uncharacteristically furious. Iruka's mind was still reeling. "Yet Naruto was raised as an orphan!" Iruka exclaimed. "If he's the Fourth's son, then he has a clan! Hell, he has an estate! He… He should be a–"

Hiruzen raised his eyebrow. "–A _hero_?" He said coldly, the implication clear.

Iruka gulped. There had been a time not long ago when Iruka had been one of the ones staring at Naruto with cold, dead eyes. "You should have told me," Kakashi growled. "You left my godson to be raised alone, _I_ would been there for him. Jiraiya would have been there."

"I never _denied_ his parentage," Hiruzen said in a forcefully calm voice. "It's not like I changed his name or gave him a new identity. I simply quietly enrolled him in the orphanage and distracted everyone with the announcement of Minato's and Kushina's death. You're a smart man, Kakashi. If you had cared to pay attention you would have realised who Naruto was fairly quickly, but let's be honest – twelve years ago you were in no state to look after a child."

Kakashi's eye narrowed, clutching the chair tightly. "You should have told–"

"What? Told the world that he was Naruto Namikaze?" Hiruzen snorted. "In Konoha, Minato is considered a hero, but in every other nation he is 'Minato the Butcher', the man who singlehandedly slaughtered countless troops on the battlefield. The Elemental Nations has a long memory. Even today, there are so many who would gladly murder a child as a final revenge against the Namikaze line."

The Third's expression was solid stone. "I made a _choice_, Kakashi," Hiruzen said sternly. "It wasn't a nice choice, but I made it anyways. I ensured that Naruto grew up safe and sound in the most normal environment I could provide. I ensured that he was well-fed and cared for, and I tried to honour Minato's legacy in the best way that I could."

"And you ensured that he grew up alone and isolated," Iruka added in a voice so quiet it was barely audible. The Third heard it anyways.

"Alas, not even I can force people to be friendly. Nor can I change the perception of the public," Hiruzen replied coolly. "I did the _best_ that I could. And I would do it again. We will not talk anymore on the subject."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to protest, but he bit his tongue. After a pause, Kakashi asked in a quieter voice. "Just tell me this," the jounin muttered. "What happened to Naruto's inheritance?"

Hiruzen's eyes softened. "All of Minato's and Kushina's belongings have been carefully sealed and placed in storage. I kept it very discreet, very well hidden, but it's all been preserved. I intend to present Naruto with it when he comes of age."

Kakashi nodded in disgruntled silence, but seemed to settle done. Hiruzen sighed, filing the matter away for another time. "Now then, we must discuss the more pressing matter of Naruto's new clone technique," he said quietly, returning to the topic at hand. "It is… troubling…"

Iruka frowned. "Could anyone use this jutsu?"

"No," Kakashi replied quickly, shaking his head. "I copied Naruto's movements with my Sharingan. His hand seals were meaningless and his chakra was all over the place. It was a mess. He must have read the scroll back to front or something. I don't understand how he managed to achieve anything at all."

"Raw determination," Hiruzen mused. He was called the 'Professor' for a reason; his knowledge of the fundamental principles of jutsu exceeded every other man alive. "Hand seals allow the user to focus chakra into predefined structures to perform jutsu, but they aren't necessarily essential for all techniques. Perhaps if Naruto, through pure strength of will, managed to unlock an innate affinity for cloning, and the forcefully created a doppelganger's body. If the proto-clone was stable enough, then his own Uzumaki vitality would fill up the empty shell. I suspect that the advanced regeneration granted by the Nine-Tails also had a large part to play. In essence, this clone technique is something that only he can use."

"Oh," Iruka nodded dumbly. "So then it's basically a Kekkei Genkai?" He looked the Hiruzen and Kakashi curiously. "Well, that's not a problem, is it? I mean, bloodlines are really valuable to the village. And it's not really that powerful–"

"Naruto has effectively just became immortal," Hiruzen interrupted suddenly.

Iruka blinked. "I'm sorry," he said stupidly. "_What?!_"

"By continually generating new clones as his body ages, Naruto could quite conceivably live forever," the Hokage said simply. "As well as that, so long as even one clone survives, no matter where it is in the world, then Naruto cannot be killed."

The statement caused Iruka's head to spin. "Ok," he nodded slowly. "That's a bit more of a problem…"

Hiruzen shook his head solemnly. "Oh, if only that was the only issue. You do not understand the severity of this particular technique," He said quietly. "In normal Shadow Clone Jutsu, the user splits his chakra to form a clone; there are two bodies, but the power of each one is halved. With Naruto's technique, the opposite is true."

The Third's gaze was grim. "Each time Naruto uses his technique, his strength is effectively _doubled_."

"What…?" Iruka murmured in confusion.

"Allow me to use an example," Hiruzen explained. "His technique requires a massive amount of chakra. He cannot use it frequently, and he is left fatigued after each use. Let us assume he can perform it only once every twenty-four hours. Naruto uses the technique once, he forms a clone, and then he is left weakened for a period.

"However," Hiruzen continued. "_The_ clone also has a fully functioning body and working chakra coils. Remember that all clones are completely identical to the original. The clones don't require chakra, they _provide_ it. Both clones will then generate and recuperate chakra and, thus, the total chakra pool has been doubled."

"Oh," Iruka said dumbly, mind reeling as he considered the significance of that statement. The dread came slowly.

"Twenty-four hours after that, then…" Hiruzen continued slowly. "…_both_ Narutos will be capable of using the technique again, producing another two. As a whole, he is now four times more powerful. The day after that, _eight_. The day after that, _sixteen_. And this is the really frightening thing about this ability, because, as far as I can tell, there _is_ _absolutely no limit to the number of times he can use it_."

Kakashi's eye widened in shock. "But that's…"

"That is why I called it a '_perfect jutsu_'," Hiruzen explained darkly. "I do not use those words lightly. In a week, there could be up to a hundred and twenty eight Narutos. Within a month, he could potentially outnumber everyone in the Elemental Nations several hundred times over."

The image of millions of orange jumpsuit clad, hyperactive ninjas burned through Kakashi's mind. "We're all doomed," Kakashi said with a gulp.

Iruka shuddered. "The ramen industry will collapse," he muttered under his breath. "But are you really worried about a… a… an _invasion of Narutos_?"

"No," Hiruzen replied coolly. "I'm worried about how Iwa will react when they learn that Minato Namikaze's son has achieved the perfect jutsu and could, quite literally, form a one-man army and march upon them."

Kakashi winced. "Ok, that wouldn't be good," he admitted. "Iwa would form a lynch mob if that news got out…"

"And Iwa isn't the only one," Hiruzen agreed. "Power makes you a target. There is a very long list of people that would want Naruto's ability for themselves."

_And at very top of that list_, Hiruzen thought silently, _Orochimaru_. His former student had inherited the Second's lust for knowledge but none of his morality. Orochimaru had been striving to achieve the perfect jutsu for years. If the traitorous Sannin ever found about Naruto…

Hiruzen shivered at the thought. The memory of that room full of dissected corpses still haunted his dreams. Yes, Orochimaru would be dangerous. If discovered, Orochimaru would stop at nothing to get Naruto's power. The Sannin would capture Naruto, dissect him, and cut the child to pieces to try and reproduce that cloning technique.

_Perhaps he may even do worse_, Hiruzen thought darkly. If the whispers were true, then Orochimaru might have already mastered a forbidden body possession jutsu…

That was where Hirzen's worst nightmares really began. With Naruto's power in Orochimaru's hands, then the world would face an unstoppable _army_, each one just as crazed, cunning and dangerous as the original. Oh, that would be a dream come true for Orochimaru; to be able to split himself up into a thousand clones, and then he may very well achieve his ambition of mastering every jutsu in the world. The thought of what Orochimaru would do with that sort of power made Hiruzen's skin crawl.

_No_, Hiruzen decided coldly, _I will die before I let that monster get his hands on Naruto_.

"So what now then?" Iruka asked uncertainly, shaking the Hokage out of his unhappy daydreams. "What are we going to tell Naruto?"

"I don't know," Hiruzen admitted after a pause. He hesitated. "Although I am seriously considering sealing Naruto's chakra so that no will ever use that technique again."

Iruka's eyes widened in alarm. "You can't! If you seal his chakra then…"

"Then he will never be a ninja," Hiruzen nodded silently. "He will despise me for the rest of his life, I will be crushing his only ambition, but, maybe, the world will be better off without this Perfect Clone Technique in it. A technique like that could cause _so_ much grief." _If that's what it takes to make sure Orochimaru never gets that ability_, Hiruzen added silently.

"But it might also bring peace," Kakashi added. "Isn't that what the Second believed?"

"True," Hiruzen conceded. "…Hence my dilemma."

Iruka's foot tapped nervously against the ground. "You can't punish someone for something that they _might_ do," he said after a while.

"No? Even when that person _might_, conceivably, destroy the world?" Hiruzen retorted. "The whole concept of the perfect jutsu is one which is shrouded in controversy. If it were to become a reality, it might very well start a war."

"When Minato invented his Flying Thunder God Technique, you didn't punish him for it," Kakashi interjected, his eyes cool.

"True," Hiruzen conceded with a nod. "But Naruto is not Minato."

There was a stretch of silence. Hiruzen turned to look between both men in turn, recognising the determination in their eyes. Slowly, Hiruzen reached a decision. He sighed, dropping his pipe onto the desk. "I will not be able to keep Naruto's ability a secret for very long," he admitted. "There are too many eyes and ears in this village. I do not know how long it will take for people to realise the significance of Naruto's power, but if a storm is coming, then perhaps it is best to face it head on."

He turned to look at the jounin. "Kakashi," he said firmly. "I hereby assign Naruto Uzumaki to your team. You will be his jounin supervisor."

Just for a second, a flicker of doubt flew past Kakashi's face. It was gone quickly. Kakashi nodded. "I always assumed that you would assign the Uchiha to my team," he commented. As the only remaining Sharingan user in the village, Kakashi was the natural choice to teach Sasuke Uchiha.

"Very well," Hiruzen agreed. "Both Naruto and Sasuke will be on your team. You may have your choice of the third member, as well. Iruka, please sort this out with the Academy. Keep any talk of Naruto's ability quiet for now."

"And what about Naruto?" Kakashi asked quietly. "What should I teach him?"

The hesitation was hardly noticeable. "Teach him how to use his power," Hiruzen instructed. "He is going to need to learn how to use it. Just… Just don't let him _overuse_ his power."

Kakashi nodded quickly. The mental image of a small army of Narutos, all loud, brash, and jumping with energy, lingered in the room. It was a horrifying thought. Hiruzen stood up, walking to the door to call Naruto back in.

"As far as I am concerned, Naruto has one of the most powerful bloodlines in the world," Hiruzen said quietly. "Let us ensure that he uses it responsibly."

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile…<em>

"Score!" Naruto shouted excitedly, climbing up the cupboards in the waiting room. There was a small metal container at the back of cupboards, and Naruto grinned as he saw clambered up to reach it. "I _knew_ that the secretary had a sweet tooth!"

Two sets of stomachs rumbled eagerly. From the other side of the room, the other Naruto sniffed as he realised what his doppelganger was smelling. "Oh! Cookies!" That Naruto exclaimed, recognising the tin. It was still so strange being able to see out of another set of eyes. "Gimme!"

The first Naruto grabbed the tin and jumped downwards on to the desk. It smelt so delicious he was practically drooling. Using that jutsu had left him completely famished. He giggled as he pulled over the lid.

"Me too!" The other Naruto demanded. "I'm starving too!"

He shook his head. "No, they're mine! I'm hungrier!" Naruto stuck out his tongue at the clone. "You're just the clone anyways, you don't need to eat."

The other Naruto frowned. "I'm not the clone," he protested. "_You're_ the clone."

"I am?" He frowned. They stared at each other for a while, but neither of them could actually remember who came first. In perfect synchronism, they both just shrugged dismissively. It felt like a fairly pointless question anyways. It was like asking which one of your own arms formed first.

"Anyways, give me the cookies!" Naruto demanded.

"Get your own!" The other Naruto said possessively, holding the cookies away.

Naruto's stomach growled hungrily. He was getting irritated now. "Bastard!" He shouted, before lashing out with sharp uppercut to the other Naruto's head. As soon as his knuckles collided, they both flinched and felt the pain.

"Ow!" They exclaimed together, rubbing their own foreheads. Both Narutos stared at each other in realisation.

"Oh right, we both feel the same pain," one of them muttered.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

They stared at each other for a bit longer, looking at the images coming from the other's eyes. "Ha!" The other Naruto mocked after a pause. "_You've_ got a bruise on your forehead now and _I_ don't."

Naruto bristled. "Really, wanna bet?"

Suddenly, he lashed out and punched his doppelganger straight in the forehead with a sharp jab. Both of them winced in pain and cursed. "Dammit!" They both shouted, rubbing their respective foreheads.

They glared at each other. "_Bastard!_" They shouted in perfect synchronism.

Sensing an opportunity, the first Naruto grabbed the tin of cookies and quickly climbed to the top of the cupboard before the other could react. He stuck out his tongue mockingly, sitting on the top of the cupboard. "Heh! _I've_ got the cookies!" He teased, shaking the metal tin. "And _you_ can't reach me now!"

The other Naruto growled, glaring at his double angrily. Suddenly, an idea struck. It wasn't a very good idea. "Oh yeah?" He shouted, raising his fist. Without warning, he suddenly punched himself in the face. "I can hurt you just fine!"

Both Narutos winced in pain, but one of them had a triumphant smirk on his face. "Ha! Take _this_!" He shouted, ignoring his bloody nose as he clobbered himself in the forehead with a dull thump.

The first Naruto, on top of the cupboard, groaned as he clutched his head. He stared at his clone furiously. "You want to fight?" Naruto demanded angrily, raising his hands. "How about _this_?"

Quickly, he slammed his hand in his mouth and bit down quickly, teeth sinking into skin. Both Narutos yelped in pain. They glared at each other. "It is so… _on_!" They bellowed, before pounding their fists into their own stomachs.

By the time the Third Hokage opened the door again, the three men inside were all left speechless at the side of two Narutos writhing at opposite sides of the room, desperately trying to hurt themselves and each other by proxy. Hiruzen's mouth dropped open. Iruka face-palmed.

Kakashi just stared at the mindboggling display of stupidity. "Yep," Kakashi nodded definitely after a couple of seconds. "The world is doomed."

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes<strong>

**Well, to everyone wondering what so great about the Perfect Clone Technique, hope this chapter clears things up. I was a bit more wordy than I would have liked, but everything goes from here.**


	3. Chapter 3: Graduation

**The Perfect Jutsu**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I currently don't own Naruto, but the hostage negotiator should be phoning me back any moment now.<strong>

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 3:<strong>

**Graduation**

* * *

><p>The morning light sprinkled through Naruto's window, causing him to stir as he groggily tried to cling on to his dream. He moaned tiredly, feeling his mind slip into consciousness even as his body protested and demanded sleep. Naruto hugged the blankets tightly, and he might have managed to stay asleep longer if something moist and smelly hadn't collided roughly against his nose.<p>

Naruto's eyes shot open. He was suddenly looking at a pair of dirty feet slammed into his face. There was no crueller way to wake up.

"Ugh!" Naruto shouted loudly, pushing the legs away. "Yuck! You're meant to stay in _your_ half of the bed!"

Suddenly, Naruto felt the thoughts and feelings churn in his other body as the second Naruto woke up. It was like a door opening in his mind, and instantly both Narutos could see out of two pairs of eyes.

"…Ummm…" The other Naruto muttered tiredly, struggling to focus. He was draped across the bed in a near identical position, but resting his head on the bottom such that his feet were in the first Naruto's face. "Don't blame me!" He protested weakly. "You moved around in your sleep!"

"No I never! _You_ were the one that moved!"

They were both right about to start another argument when the realisation hit them at the exact same time. Last night they had split the bed vertically, and they had both ended up twisting almost ninety degrees and swapping sides. Both Narutos frowned.

"Oh," they muttered dumbly. It was an awful thing trying to argue with yourself. You could never win.

"We need another bed," One of them said after a pause.

"Yeah," the first one agreed, before adding, "Next time, you sleep on the floor."

He bristled. "Why should _I_ have to go on the floor?!"

"Because… because…" The first Naruto struggled and failed to think of a good reason. "Because I say so!"

"Well, _I_ say that you should go on the floor!" The other Naruto snapped, throwing a dirty sock at his doppelganger's face.

"Bastard!" Naruto shouted angrily. They both raised their fists at the same time, but then paused. The memory of their 'fight' from last night was a fresh and humiliating memory. There was a moment of silent contemplation.

"We'll take turns with the bed," one Naruto said grouchily after a pause.

"Fine," the other agreed unwillingly, and then added, "_And_ with the housework."

"What about food?" The doppelganger moaned. "We both need to eat! You're going to hog all of _my_ ramen!"

"That's _my_ ramen!"

"Is not!"

"Bastard!" They screamed, before frowning and dropping their fists moodily. Living with yourself was an awful experience. Naruto was beginning to realise why all his teachers got so annoyed with him all the time.

There was another pause. They had been too tired last night to think about it, but now Naruto's new situation was becoming more and more awkward. His apartment was barely big enough for one, and he only had so much money for groceries.

"We'll have to share," Naruto muttered, dropping off the bed irritably. Smelly feet and half servings of ramen was a horrible way to start the day.

"Fine," the other agreed. He thought about it for a while. "But I should get the bigger portion, since _you_ hogged all of those cookies last night."

"That wasn't me! That was you!"

"Was it?" Both Naruto's frowned as they struggled to remember. Both their memories merged into one and they both could remember everything that the other felt and saw. It made any distinction between the two clones nearly impossible.

"That's it! I'm sick of getting confused between me and myself," Naruto protested. He paused to frown at how strange the statement sounded and wondered briefly on the correct pronoun, but then shook himself off and continued. "From now on, _I'm_ Naruto-One and you're Naruto-Two."

His doppelganger glared. "Wait, why should I be Naruto-Two?" He argued loudly. "_I_ want to be Naruto-One!"

"But… but…!" The first Naruto's mouth dropped open in wordless confusion at the dilemma. His brain was starting to hurt. Both of them. "Alright, how about this; I'm Naruto-One and you can be Naruto-A."

They thought about for a bit. "Ok then," Naruto-A agreed. "That works. So what happens now?"

Naruto-One shrugged. "We've got to get ready I suppose. Let's keep out of each other's way for the rest of the day. Only one of us has to go to the Academy for the orientation."

"So how do we decide?" Naruto-A pondered.

They both stopped to rub their chins in thought. The solution hit Naruto-A a millisecond before Naruto-One could react. "Shotgun!" Naruto-A shouted loudly.

"Shot– Dammit!" Naruto-One cursed moodily. He had been just about to say the exact same thing_. Does it even make a difference who went?_ They both mused silently, feeling the thoughts echoed across two brains. _We both experience the exact same memories and feelings simultaneously_.

"Fine," Naruto-One conceded. "You go to school for the team assignment. I've got to go for the registration photo anyways."

The photo-shoot should really have been yesterday, but with all the excitement Naruto had missed it. They both grinned with the thought. "Oh, make sure you make that photo badass!" Naruto-A said eagerly. "It's got to look cool!"

"I know, right?" Naruto-One agreed with a wide smile. "I was thinking war-paint."

"Awesome!"

They grinned wider, staring at each other through two sets of eyes. They were both perfect doppelgangers; short, spikey blond hair with the exact same orange tracksuit. Naruto-One hesitated as he reached for the head protector. Since Iruka gave him it after he was cloned, there was still only one headband.

"Here," Naruto-One offered quietly, handing Naruto-A the dull, strip of fabric as if it were a priceless treasure. "You'll need this."

Naruto-A nodded solemnly and took the headband. "I'll ask Iruka-sensei for a second one," Naruto-A promised. They smiled softly, and they could both feel each other relax slightly with the gesture.

_Perhaps this could work_, Naruto thought quietly, and both of his bodies nodded in agreement.

_Huh, so don't we have to talk to communicate with each other_, Naruto-One thought wordlessly.

_Looks like_, Naruto-A agreed.

_You know, we're going to run out of food pretty quickly_, Naruto-One suggested.

_Yeah, and our pocket money from the old man isn't going to cover both us for very long_, Naruto-A continued. Their individual thoughts were nearly indistinguishable from each other's now. _One of us is going to have to have to earn some cash._

They both grimaced at the thought. Most of the villagers would never even interact with Naruto, but Hiruzen had been known to hire Naruto to do odd little jobs when he wanted to earn more spending money, and some of the merchants always needed extra hands. None of it was high paying stuff, mind.

_We need a job_, Naruto-One thought miserably, in the same way he would think a swear word. _Plus…_

…_we need to clean up this place_, Naruto-A added, motioning to the filthy apartment. Their thoughts were fluidly meshing together. Two brains, one mind. _And what…_

…_about our pranks?_ Naruto-One continued. _We've got a reputation as a prankster to uphold!_

They paused to think about the dilemma for a while. Slowly, a mischievous grin started to form across both their faces.

_You know, splitting all this work between two people sounds a like_…

… _a lot of work_. Naruto-One didn't even realise that he wasn't the one thinking anymore. Their thoughts were mirroring each other perfectly. _But what_ _about_…

… _splitting it between _three…

…_well_ that_ sounds a lot easier_. They both nodded at the same time, grinning excitedly. The old man had warned them not to go overuse their power, but he hadn't said they couldn't use it _at all_.

_Do you want to do it or should I?_ Naruto-A offered.

_I will_, Naruto-One volunteered. _You've got a graduation to go to_.

_Ok then_, Naruto-A nodded. _Ready?_

If there had been anyone spying on them, such as through a crystal ball, then all they would have seen were two Narutos standing quietly looking at each other wordlessly, occasionally nodding and smiling. One of the Narutos dropped into a stance and put his hands together.

"Yep," Naruto-One muttered, before taking a deep breath and focusing his chakra. It was definitely getting easier each time he used it.

"_Perfect Clone Technique!_"

* * *

><p>"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked lazily, half asleep as he watched the blond walk into the classroom disinterestedly. "This is for graduates only."<p>

Naruto stuck out his tongue and pointed to his forehead. "You see the headband, Shikamaru?" Naruto shouted triumphantly, while the rest of the classroom stared at him with various degrees of interest. "I'm right where I belong!"

Shikamaru just scoffed and muttered 'troublesome' under his breath, before resting on his desk and trying to get back to sleep. From the other side of the room, Kiba laughed as Naruto strolled eagerly up to his desk.

"Heh, looks like the examiners are handing out pity marks this year!" Kiba taunted. His wild hair was hidden under his hoodie, while Akamuru, nestled into his collar, barked in agreement. The feral Inuzuka's smirk was mocking, challenging Naruto to take the bait. The blond just shrugged, before sitting down quietly in the corner.

He didn't notice the dark-haired, petite girl sitting next to him. Hinata was blushing furiously as a Naruto unwittingly sat beside her, avoiding eye contact and shuffling away as her mind whirred with possibilities.

_Naruto is sitting next to me!_ Hinata thought furiously. _I'm so glad he passed, but why is sitting next to _me_?! Did he notice me tailing him the other day?_ She was panicking so hard with the thought that it became hard to breathe.

As a matter of fact, Naruto was barely paying attention to anything that happened in the room. Even as he sat down at the desk, Naruto-One was on the other side of the town, playing with a kid named Konohamaru after coming back from getting his photo taken, while the most recent clone, Naruto-Alpha (it had taken a very long time for them all to settle on a name), was recovering his strength as he pigged out on ramen at Ichiraku. All three clones could all taste the delicious ramen even as only one of them ate. It was heaven.

_From now on_, all Narutos decided at the same time, _we're going to be eating ramen constantly_.

Naruto was so distracted that he didn't even pick a fight with Sasuke Uchiha, despite the later looking even more broody than normal. Even when Sakura charged in to the room, arguing viciously with Ino as she barged towards Sasuke, Naruto never even spoke up.

As far as everyone else in the room, the normally hyperactive ninja was completely subdued and calm. The whole classroom seemed a lot more peaceful as a result.

None of them knew that at the exact same time, Naruto was also duelling with Konohamaru's teacher, Ebisu. Things had been going badly for him for a while, but then Naruto-Alpha rushed to Naruto-One's aid. The pair of them caught Ebisu in the newly created Sexy Technique: _Twin_ _Version_. The closet pervert never stood a chance.

In the classroom, Naruto smiled faintly as he stared distractedly in to thin air, drawing a few strange looks from the people around him.

"Settle down class," Iruka ordered instinctively as he marched through the door with a clipboard. He stopped and frowned confusedly when he realised that the class was already pretty settled, but then shook himself off and continued. "From this day forward, you are all officially ninja of Konohagakure. You are expected to carry out your missions, and to follow the code of the ninja. I just want to say how proud I am of all you for being here." His gaze lingered on Naruto briefly as he spoke.

"_However_…" Iruka continued, his voice becoming stricter before anyone had the chance to look smug. "You are still genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just started. Today we will assign teams, and each team will have a jounin sensei. You will have to follow your sensei's instructions in the field, and your sensei will guide you in your training."

He cleared his throat and slowly read off the clipboard. "Now then, Team 1 will be…" Iruka explained, going through the class one by one.

His gaze drifted over the classroom slowly as he spoke, quietly judging his students. He had been an instructor for a long time, and he knew how the process worked. It was harsh, but the vast majority of the graduates in the room would never make it as a ninja. The Hidden Villages valued quality over quantity when it came to their military.

Although technically Konoha could field an army of approximately twelve thousand strong in times of war; in truth the vast, vast majority of that number was made out of intelligence analysts, scouts, armourers, field and supply units and semi-trained brunt forces. For every one fighting ninja, there were hundreds of support units in the background. Skilled, experienced ninja were very rare and very valuable. Jounin-level ninjas could be worth whole armies by themselves. The whole training program employed by the village was designed to maximise the number of elite ninjas.

Hundreds of people went through the academy every year; there was a graduating class every six months, and there were multiple academies across the village. This was to ensure that even civilians had some sort of ninja training, even if it was very basic. Teams were assigned to weed out the graduates with real potential, while the others either returned to the process or resigned to a civilian life. Even if graduates didn't have the talent to be 'typical' ninjas, there were still a whole range of careers in maintenance, cryptology, interrogation, administrative, and support fields that were available. Everybody had the _chance_ to eventually become a jounin, but there were an extreme number of cutbacks that just didn't meet the requirements. As far as the training system was concerned; one professional ninja was worth filtering through hundreds of rejects.

Still, it was quite common for people to leave the academy and become blacksmiths or merchants, but they still contributed to the prosperity of the village in their own way. Again, the process recognised and appreciated this, which was why the curriculum included so many mundane subjects like maths and history, rather than solely fighting skills. Everybody was taught rudimentary ninja techniques too, of course, because civilians should have some knowledge of how to defend themselves in a ninja village, and even merchants needed to be able to tell whether their customer was paying them in henged coins. Graduates were encouraged to drop out if they didn't have the skill, and many left without even going through the team assignment. For the majority of its graduates; the academy acted not as a ninja training school specifically, but simply as a school.

After so long being an instructor, Iruka could guess which of his students would go on to become career ninjas and who wouldn't. Out of the large class, the instructors would be completely satisfied if even ten of them went on to be professional ninjas. The clan heirs; Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Shino, Sasuke, and even Naruto too (Iruka's mind was still buzzing over the Hokage's revelation of Naruto's parents), all had a natural advantage against the others. There were also some from civilian families, such as Sakura, that showed talent too, though it was to be expected that those from a civilian background would be at a disadvantage compared to born and bred ninjas.

A hell of a lot of care and deliberation had went into the team assignment to make sure that everyone went into their right place, reflecting both the jounin supervisor, individual skills and the group's dynamic.

The ones with the most potential would be passed onto highly-skilled, professional jounin, such as Kakashi, Asuma or Kurenai, to ensure that they were given the best opportunity. The others would be assigned to specialist jounin, such as Ebisu, for a thorough evaluation and examination, although there was always the unspoken likelihood that the team wouldn't last very long. If the jounin supervisor found certain members to have talent that previously hadn't been recognised, then that team would be modified. If a graduate was borderline, or not utilising their full talent, then they were placed in referral and could always repeat the final semester.

_There was an element of favouritism_, Iruka confessed to himself, _but ninjas had to be pragmatic_. The instructors wanted everyone to become elite ninjas, but at the same time they knew that most people wouldn't be able to. They made every effort to give them all a fair opportunity and achieve their best, even if that wasn't so obvious from the point of view of the graduates.

Iruka's gaze lingered on Naruto with a flash of pride. Naruto had been a difficult case; he had the potential, but he just didn't show it very well. Iruka had wanted him to succeed so badly even when the other instructors tried to fail him. Naruto had already been through referral five times, but Naruto hadn't really appreciated the reason why. It hadn't been because everyone around him was being favoured over him, but it was a chance for him to do better the next time around.

Mizuki had wanted to pass Naruto in the last exam, Iruka recalled darkly, but that hadn't been an act of kindness. Mizuki had wanted Naruto to go through to the next stage because then the jounin supervisor would surely fail him once and for all, and then Naruto's dream would be over. When Naruto hadn't been able to use the clone technique, Iruka had been quite prepared to put him in referral once again. Iruka hadn't believed that Naruto was ready and so Iruka failed him to give him another chance, but Naruto hadn't seen it like that. As far as Naruto saw, Iruka had just been the bad guy.

The thought that Naruto would finally be graduating almost made Iruka jump for joy. His classroom would be so much quieter, cleaner and safer without the blond-haired ninja. Iruka wouldn't have worry about pranks, or cleaning up after Naruto's mess. It would be so nice, peaceful and quiet.

_And I'll miss him_, Iruka thought with a soft smile of remorse. _I'll miss the noise, and the pranks, and the mess._

Iruka had to clear his throat as he finally reached the name on the list that he had been waiting for. "Team 7 will be…" Iruka announced to the room. "… Uzumaki Naruto…"

The blond was instantly alert, ears pricking with the sound of his name. _Please be Sakura_, Naruto thought wistfully, looking longingly at the cute pink-haired girl.

."… Sasuke Uchiha…"

"Goddammit!" Naruto cursed loudly, dropping into his chair. Across the room, Sakura and Ino both moaned at the same time. Sasuke didn't visibly react, but a very keen eye might have notice him wince slightly.

"… and Hinata Hyuuga."

There was a dull thump. Everyone turned to stare at the back of the room, where Hinata had suddenly collapsed to the floor. Her face was so bright red it looked ready to burst.

Naruto only groaned. "Aww, _great_," he moaned miserably under his breath. "… _another_ Sasuke fan girl…."

* * *

><p><em>Ready?<em> Naruto-One thought gleefully, sitting in the room, watching the scene from his doppelganger's viewpoint.

_Oh yes_, Naruto-Alpha thought cheerfully, _I've got the chicken feathers right here_.

_The glue bucket is in place_, Naruto-A confirmed.

_How about the tripwire?_ Naruto-One asked curiously, as scrolled through his clone's memories to check if they did it. _Ah yes, that's done. This is going to be awesome!_

_Our best prank yet_, Naruto-Alpha agreed cheerfully.

_We could do better_, Naruto-One argued. _How about rotten fish, green gloop or pink paint?_

This had all started as an eraser over the door. Things had spiralled out of control since then.

_Glitter!_ Naruto-Alpha thought with sudden inspiration. _We need sparkly glitter!_

_Go for it!_ Naruto-A thought furiously as their imaginations whirred into gear. _Right now! I want every trap known to man! Hell, I want to invent a few of my own! I want to make prank history here, people! I want that corridor more booby-trapped than the Hokage's underwear drawer!_

_On it! _The other two Narutos shouted with a mock salute, before racing away.

"That's what you get for being late," Naruto muttered to himself with a satisfied giggle, folding his arms as he awaited his jounin supervisor. He figured that one body should stay completely still with the others to divert suspicion from himself.

In the room, Sasuke rolled his eyes irritably. Every other team had already left with their instructor. Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru left with their instructor Asuma, while Sakura, Kiba and Shino left with Kurenai, but Team 7 was waiting in an empty classroom. It had been two hours already, and the silence was getting on Sasuke's nerves. Sasuke was good at being quiet, but this type of silence was annoying him.

Naruto had tried to make conversation at the beginning, but Sasuke wasn't interested and Hinata looked like she was about to have a heart attack whenever Naruto tried to talk to her. After a while, Naruto just gave up and sat by himself.

That's when the silence got weird. Naruto wouldn't talk, but he would stare distractedly into the distance and occasionally smile and mutter to himself under his breath. It was like he just got so distracted that he forgot about the other two people in the room. Hinata was just as bad. She was twitching constantly; looking like she wanted to say something but too hesitant all the time. It was like she was always on the verge of speaking up, but instead would just hesitate, blush and retreat into herself.

Sasuke _liked_ silence. He even enjoyed ignoring people. He hated, however, being trapped in a room with two people that were too busy in their own minds to even say a word.

The minutes ticked by slowly. After a while, Sasuke just snapped. "What the hell are you doing, idiot?!" He demanded at Naruto.

Hinata jumped in shock. Naruto blinked. "What the hell is your problem, jerk?"

"You!" Sasuke shouted. "You're my problem! You keep on smiling and talking to yourself! It's distracting."

Naruto hesitated. _I am?_ He thought with surprise. It was easy to get distracted when you were having a conversation in your mind.

_We need to be careful about that_, a clone conceded reluctantly. _That could get really weird_.

In the room, Naruto bristled. "None of your business, jerk!" Naruto shouted defensively. "Stop looking at me, anyways, _that's_ weird!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, still glaring at Naruto suspiciously. Outside in the corridor, there was a crunch of something heavy dragging across the floor.

Naruto's eyes shot open. One of his clones was rolling the oil drum into position.

"What's that noise?" Sasuke muttered, standing up and going for the door. Naruto was instantly there, blocking the door with his foot.

"Nothing!" Naruto gulped. Both of his clones were busy working rigging up the corridor with traps.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. The sound of hammering filled the room; his clones were replacing the floor tiles now.

"What are you doing, moron?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, trying to dart past him.

Naruto kept his foot jammed under the door frame. There was a creak from outside; his clones were installing the spring-loaded launchers in the lockers now.

"Nothing. I just want to keep this door closed!" Naruto protested weakly. "I… um… I like this door closed. It looks better when it's closed."

"What's going on outside?" Sasuke demanded.

"Nothing!"

A ferocious hissing sound echoed down the hall. Naruto winced; they were back from the pet store, and they were now filling up the snake pit.

A flash of pride hit him. _Damn, I work _fast.

"Get out of my way," Sasuke ordered. The corridor sounded like a construction zone.

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Make me!"

Hinata trembled, speaking up for the first time. "…Please don't fight…" She muttered quietly, looking between Naruto and Sasuke with wide, nervous eyes.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. Carefully, Sasuke dropped backwards into a fighting stance.

_Open the door_, Naruto-Alpha insisted. _We'll take him together_.

_We can't_, Naruto-One thought reluctantly; _we told the Hokage that we'd try to keep the clone technique secret_.

Naruto growled, judging Sasuke up and down critically. _I'll take him by myself_, Naruto-A thought determinedly; _you two just stay back_.

Sasuke's eyes were dark. He cracked his knuckles carefully. "Ready, moron?"

Naruto grinned tauntingly. "Bring it, idi–"

The blow hit him so quickly Naruto never even had time to react. One second, Sasuke was standing perfectly still, and then the next his fist was slamming against Naruto's cheek.

_Damn it!_ Naruto growled. He suddenly remembered that he had never come close to beating Sasuke in the academy duels. _He's fast!_

Sasuke darted in again, a swift elbow slamming against Naruto's chest, followed by a painful swipe to the back of Naruto's neck. An easy combo; quick, painful and paralysing. Naruto could barely even react as his body toppled over and the floor rushed up to meet him.

_This is going to hurt_, both Narutos clones thought with a wince.

The impact sent his head spinning. Naruto could barely concentrate, but then there was a voice in his head, firm and reassuring. _Left arm_, one of his clones ordered, and Naruto lashed out quickly. _Now!_

Sasuke barely had time to look surprised as Naruto recovered instantly, twisting off the ground and lashing out towards him with a left uppercut. Sasuke blocked, but barely. Naruto couldn't even see straight, but then he could feel his clone's presence in his mind, commanding his body.

_You're concussed_, Naruto-One explained simply; _but _we're_ not. We'll take over_.

Naruto-A couldn't even focus, but he just followed blindly as his clones guided his arms. They could see and feel everything he could, but they weren't in the moment. The minds of two the other clones took over, reacting much faster than Naruto-A was able to.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto suddenly struck out with a series of fast, sudden jabs. The Uchiha caught each fist, but it still pushed him backwards. His footwork was poised and perfect as he danced around Naruto's flurry of attacks, his body tensing and coiling in preparation.

_Watch out_, Naruto-Alpha warned. While the other two were focused on the present, he was searching through the memories of their previous duels and recalling Sasuke's fighting style. _He likes spinning kicks - right leg._

Half a second later, Sasuke's body twisted and his leg struck out in a lightning fast arc. Naruto was already reacting. With three minds behind him, Naruto could already visualise his next moves faster than ever. Only one of him was actually fighting; but the other two could think with crystal clarity. Their brains meshed together with perfect synchronism as Naruto dropped to the ground, raising both hands to block Sasuke's leg.

_Wait a second_, Naruto-A thought dazedly, _am I sharing brain power?_

_Have I just gotten smarter?_

Sasuke's leg crashed against him. Naruto managed to brace in time, but the impact still took his breath away. Still, he gritted his teeth and grabbed a hold of Sasuke's leg. The dark-haired boy barely even had time to be surprised. Suddenly, Naruto twisted their positions around and pulled Sasuke's leg away. For one second, Sasuke wobbled and tried to balance himself, but Naruto was already pulling backwards.

Finally, Sasuke lost his composure. His arms swung madly as he toppled to the ground, but Naruto kept a hold of his leg. With a grunt of exertion, Naruto swung Sasuke upwards and around like a hammer.

With a satisfying crunch, Sasuke crashed headfirst into the wall. The plasterboard smashed.

Outside the room, two Naruto clones high-fived each other in a leap of joy.

Hinata gasped, looking between the two boys in nervousness and shock. Naruto pulled himself up, still trembling as the adrenaline rushing through his body. Sasuke groaned in pain, staggering to his feet as he clutched his forehead. His eyes were furious.

_He's tough_, Naruto thought with gritted teeth. An ugly bruise was already forming across the side of Naruto's face.

"Come on, jerk, I'll–" Naruto bellowed loudly, just as Sasuke darted off the ground.

_Right arm!_ Both Naruto clones screamed together, but it was too late. Sasuke's fist zoomed into view. Naruto swung out with his. Both pairs of knuckles crunched against foreheads with a dull thud at the exact same time.

And then two bodies toppled limply to the ground.

* * *

><p><em>What happened?<em> Naruto-One demanded confusedly as the vision went blank abruptly. It was like a window slamming shut in his mind.

_I think he was knocked out_, Naruto-Alpha thought slowly, darting up the corridor to peek through the crack in the door. _Yep, Naruto-A is _down.

Inside the room, both Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious on the ground, with a flustered Hinata standing over them. Hinata looked nearly crazed with worry and indecision.

_Damn_, Naruto-One groaned with a sigh. _Well, at least he took Sasuke-jerk down with him_.

_Yep_, Naruto-Alpha agreed. _That was good_.

They both glanced nervously around the pranked corridor; it was still only half-done. The glue bucket and feather trap was finished. The glitter launchers needed a bit of work, but the oil drum was a work of art and the tripwires were in place. The snake pit was filled and ready (non-venomous snakes only), but the lasso still needed positioning. With a bit of work, the next person to walk down the corridor would be in for a hell of a surprise.

It was glorious. Both Narutos wished that their third doppelganger was conscious enough to revel in its magnificence.

_Come on_, Naruto-One decided finally. Naruto-Alpha nodded at the exact same time. _Let's finish this off and get out of here._

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Kakashi Hatake strolled upwards towards the academy, observing the building with a lazy eye. He was exactly three hours late. Normally he went for two, but with this team he just wanted to be safe.<p>

The academy was deserted as he casually walked through the door. Three steps later, he stopped suddenly, his eye narrowing.

"Hmm…" Kakashi muttered quietly, bending down to inspect the tripwire hidden across the corridor. It was so fine that a less experienced ninja would never have seen it.

Kakashi carefully stepped over the tripwire and kept on walking. Two steps later, he found a second tripwire. Four steps later he found a lasso hidden underneath a rigged tile.

"Huh," Kakashi murmured, before walking forward again. He was walking much more slowly, mind.

Around the corner, Kakashi noticed a huge oil drum hidden in the ceiling; rigged to the lasso and ready to fall. There were more traps concealed in the walls and lockers. Two large buckets of glue and feathers were rigged to fall from the ceiling. Kakashi kept on walking forward, eventually coming across a deep, hissing hole that had been dug into the centre of floor. The snake pit was filled with garter snakes, if Kakashi was any judge.

"You know…" Kakashi mused, staring at the rigged corridor. He had seen professional traps that were a lot less innovated. "… that's actually pretty impressive."

The jounin walked towards the room were his team was waiting. He looked at the door with sudden hesitation.

Five minutes later, Kakashi entered the room via the window.

Inside, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on opposite sides of the room, scowling darkly at each other as they nursed bruised faces. Hinata was caught in the middle, sitting like a timid rabbit as she glanced between them. They all looked surprised, angry and exhausted as Kakashi idly dropped down from the windowsill, scratching his head as he examined the scene critically with a lazy eye.

The air in the room was tense. Underneath his mask, Kakashi hid a smirk.

"Hmm… how can I say this…?" Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought as he muttered to the newly formed Team 7. "…my first impression of you guys is…"

Three infuriated eyes glared at him. "…I think this could be _fun_…"

* * *

><p>The meeting was short and crisp. Kakashi carried an air of absentmindedness like someone too preoccupied to pay much attention to anything. The jounin only checked that his three genin were present, told them all to meet them up on the roof in an hour, and then casually jumped back out of the window.<p>

All three of them were left in shocked and infuriated silence. Their nerves were already frayed into pieces. Naruto and Sasuke never stopped glaring at each other the entire time.

"…Um… um… Naruto? Sasuke?" Hinata muttered bashfully, as she hesitantly stood up. She had been blushing madly all day. "…He said we should go to the roof…"

With deliberate care, they both stood up together, heading towards the door. When they got within two metres of each, they both froze.

"What are you staring at, jerk-face?" Naruto demanded, hesitating before he went for the doorknob.

Sasuke scowl was murderous. "Listen up, dead-last," he said darkly. His face was just as bruised and bloodied as Naruto's. "I didn't _ask_ to be on a team with you. I don't _want_ to be on a team with you. As far as I'm concerned, you are nothing more than _dirt_ that I have to step over on my way to becoming a ninja. If you ever dare get in my way, I will wipe you off the face of the earth, do you understand?"

Naruto paused. Sasuke's eyes were deadly serious. Hinata looked up at Sasuke timidly. "…Um… Sasuke… you shouldn't…"

Her voice trailed off helplessly. "From now on…" Sasuke muttered coldly. "…You stay out of my way. Don't interfere, don't talk to me. Stay out of my way, and we'll both be much happier."

Naruto clenched his fists, and took a deep breath. An idea hit him. For once, he didn't feel like picking a fight.

"Fine!" Naruto snapped, holding both his hands up. "You want me out of your way; I am _out_ of your way. Look, completely out of the way!"

He took two steps backwards. "See?" Naruto said, unable to hold back the evil smile that flashed across his face. He motioned to the door. "I'm out the way – you can go first."

Sasuke glared at him, before scoffing in triumphant, snatching the door open and stomping out of the room. Hinata was about to follow him, but Naruto quietly held out his arm to stop her. Together, they stood in the doorway as they watched Sasuke walk down the corridor.

A tripwire clicked.

Naruto should have brought popcorn.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

**Happy New Year to all my readers! Sorry about the delay on this one, but thank you so much for all the feedback! It is much appreciated, and I do try to reply to the majority of reviews.**

**One thing that always bugged me about the Naruto-verse were the numbers. In the Fourth Shinobi World War, each of the Hidden Villages had over ten thousand ninjas, which was completely contradictory compared with everything that has ever been seen before. I mean, there were twenty-seven graduates from Naruto's Academy class, and only nine of them actually made it to genin. The chunin exams were even worse; I mean, a hundred plus hopefuls and only a handful of promotions each year. There's no way that that sort of intake could ever add up to an army of thousands.**

**Instead, I figured that the Hidden Villages were more like Special Forces; training a very few, highly elite forces while the rest of the army were support roles that were somewhere in the background. It also explains why each stage of the ninja career was so harsh; everyone who failed at each stage went on to some background role. For every elite ninja like the ones the series focuses on, there must be hundreds of support and backup units making up the numbers.**

**Also, just a clarification; I'm not anti-Sasuke. Later in the series he became a complete douche with one of the most flimsy motivations for being evil that I've ever heard, but in the early story I actually really liked him. He was brooding and aloof, sure, but understandably so, and he did have some pretty awesome moments. I think he had a great dynamic with Naruto, and I want to show that.**

**As for Hinata, I did seriously debate on whether to keep the original teams or swap Sakura out with someone. Hinata is just a character with so much potential, mind, and I think that, since the Hokage gave Kakashi his choice of the third member this time, there is a lot of fun I can have with the new Team 7. Plus it gives three people each with their own bloodline, which is nice.**


	4. Chapter 4: Team 7

**The Perfect Jutsu**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.<strong>

**... and I will shoot one hostage every hour until that is corrected.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 4:<strong>

**Team 7**

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><p>Hinata's hands never stopped trembling as she walked through the quiet streets towards the Hyuuga District. The whole day had been a whirlwind of emotion so intense she was left physically shattered, but still her heart was pounding furiously. Even in the turmoil of her thoughts, there was one that stood out louder than all the others.<p>

_Naruto! I'm actually in a team with _Naruto_!_

She had had a crush on Naruto since before she had even understood what a crush was. Hinata had spent countless days staring at him in class, wishing that she actually had the courage to approach him. Now, she was actually in the same team as him, meaning that they would see each other every day and would actually interact.

Hinata should have been over-the-moon with joy. And there was a lot of happiness in her too, but that feeling was completely overshadowed by the doubt, the anxiety, and the fear – oh so much fear. The very thought of actually having a chance terrified her more than she could have possibly imagined.

She had to brace herself as she headed towards the doors of the compound – tall, white, unadorned and imposing. Hinata had to take a deep breath to steady her nerves and try to stop the twitching of fear, but it was no good. She knew her father would get mad if he saw the clan heiress looking so undignified.

With one last breath, Hinata carefully pushed the door open and walked inside the house. Even if she was born here, it still had never felt like home.

Inside, a servant, a young woman from one of the branch families, approached quietly to take Hinata's jacket. Hinata nodded meekly as the servant approached, while trying to avoid staring at the Cursed Seal on her forehead. Hinata's shoulders were stiff as she pushed off her shoes and walked barefooted through the compound.

The Hyuuga compound was large and airy; with wooden floors, screen doors and décor-less white walls. It was an ancient building, and the family was incredibly wealthy, but the Hyuuga had never been ostentatious with their wealth. There was some code among her family that seemed to encourage simple living, preferring plain robes and simple sashes, even if every member of the Main House was served hand and foot by the Branch Houses.

Her father's office was a large room on the far side of the building. Hiashi Hyuuga sat at his desk, carefully reading through a stack of papers, while his eldest daughter approached timidly. He didn't even look up as she entered the room.

"It was graduation today," Hiashi said simply, without greeting. "You were assigned a team."

It wasn't really a question, but Hinata nodded anyways. "Yes," she muttered quietly.

Hiasha kept on reading the papers. His pale blue eyes weren't focused on her, but Hinata knew that he could see absolutely everything anyways. Hiashi's body was completely composed as he quietly placed the page down on his desk with quiet grace. Hiashi Hyuuga excreted dignity and pride in the same way that normal people sweated.

"Who is your supervisor?" He asked quietly, while Hinata tried not to flinch as he stared at her.

"Kakashi Hatake," she replied in a meek voice. Every time she stood in front of her father, Hinata felt completely out of place and helpless. Perhaps she was.

A flicker of a frown passed through Hiashi's face briefly. "Kakashi Hatake," he repeated slowly. "I _had_ made arrangements for you to be assigned to Kurenai Yuhi. I believed her temperament would be better suited for you. The Hokage had no right to change teams without informing me."

Hinata flinched. "I'm sorry, father," she muttered monotonously, staring fixedly down at the wooden floor.

Hiashi stared down at her critically. Hinata honestly couldn't recall a time when she felt like anything other than a complete and utter disappointment to her father.

"Who are your team members?" Hiashi asked quietly.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Hinata replied, before hesitating slightly. "… and… and Naruto Uzumaki…"

Hiashi's fingers curled as soon as she said Naruto's name. "I see," he muttered, before looking at her sharply. "You are not, under any circumstances, to involve yourself with that Uzumaki boy, do you understand?"

Her eyes widened. Her body trembled. "But why–"

"He is a delinquent and a cancer in this village," her father said sharply. "Avoid any interactions with him, for I will not allow his influence to impede your training. Fulfil your required duties as a team member but do not socialise. I will have words with the Hokage about his placement on your team."

Hinata wanted to react. She wanted to scream, or to protest, to pull out her hair, but instead all that came out was a dull mumble. "…Yes father…" She muttered under her breath. She couldn't even meet her father's eyes. She had to blink repeatedly to hold back the tears, but Hiashi would be beyond furious if he saw her crying.

"Sasuke Uchiha is good," Hiashi continued with a nod. "I hear that the boy is quite talented. Perhaps his skill will rub off on you too."

Hinata nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Her father looked at her critically. He gripped his quill tightly.

"Your grandfather and I had an interesting conversation today," Hiashi continued after a moment's pause. "We are both concerned with your progress. You are already a genin, and yet you have yet to even awaken your Byakugan. Your techniques are basic at best. Your stances are sloppy. Hanabi is five years your younger, but she is already superior to you in so many aspects.

Hinata felt numb. The response was an automatic mumble. "I'm sorry, father."

"The Hyuuga Clan needs a strong leader."

"I'm sorry, father."

Hiashi paused. "You grandfather proposed an idea," Hiashi's voice was as calm and collected as always. "He suggested a duel between you and Hanabi to decide the succession. The stronger one would become the clan heir. The loser would not. I understand that many of the Hyuuga elders are in support of the suggestion."

The quiet, unemotional statement sent daggers of ice into Hinata's heart. She wasn't surprised, though. Her father was effectively choosing Hanabi over her. "… If I lost…" she muttered in a quiet voice. "… Would I have to go into the Branch House?"

"Possibly." Hiashi replied simply, as if the concept of abandoning his daughter to servitude and carving a Cursed Seal onto her forehead was unimportant. He paused for a few seconds. "It would be the decision of the clan elder's to decide."

Hinata didn't trust herself to reply. Her father nodded and returned to his paperwork. "We will discuss this later," he said in a voice that left no room for discussion. "There are arrangements to make before any change in succession can be made. In the meantime, I understand that you have a team evaluation tomorrow to prepare for. I suggest you go train."

Hinata nodded. She had to clutch her leg to stop her arms from trembling. Her father had never yelled at her, he had never lost his temper and he had never even raised his voice. Instead, he just talked to her with an expression of quiet disappointment that he had worn so long that it had become his face.

She was just about to leave the room, when Hiashi spoke up again, even as his quill darted across a sheet of parchment.

"Hinata," he said coolly. "I _expect_ you to pass this evaluation."

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed as he traipsed through the door of his apartment, throwing his jacket onto the floor and kicking off his shoes. His apartment building was dirty, messy and unkempt. It wasn't a rundown hovel by any stretch, but it had just grown dirty, and neglected. Naruto honestly never even knew his neighbours; they had never had anything to do with him in any case.<p>

His two doppelgangers were already inside the cramped room; one of them was cooking ramen cups while the other was training with a motionless Kakashi doll. As Naruto stomped into his apartment, his clone wordlessly shifted to one side so he could drop onto the bed.

It had been a long day. He was stuck on a team with Sasuke-jerk, he had a lazy jounin for a supervisor, and his face was still bruised and swollen after his fight with Sasuke.

There was just a hint of guilt as he thought about Sasuke. The dark-haired genin had been nearly frothing at the mouth murderously after he had fallen in to Naruto's prank. Apparently, he really hadn't appreciated being covered in feathers and dropped in a snake pit. If Kakashi hadn't been there to stop him, Sasuke might have quite possibly beaten Naruto senseless.

_Ok_, Naruto conceded after a few seconds of quiet thinking, _I _might_ have taken things a little too far with that prank._

_It's Sasuke that was being the arrogant jerk_, Naruto-One argued, shifting uncomfortably slightly. _He deserved it._

All three Naruto's paused slightly at that thought. Naruto wasn't a mean person, yet he had been so egged on by the presence of his clones that he might have crossed the line a bit. Every prankster had to know where the line was between harmless fun and actual cruelty. Pranking a jounin supervisor was acceptable, because it probably wouldn't work anyways and there was student-teacher dynamic to be upheld. Pranking a teammate, well, that got a bit dubious. Even if that teammate was Sasuke-jerk.

Naruto-A took a deep breath and sighed. The sun was just setting and there was an early start in the morning. Naruto-Alpha dropped a ramen cup down next to him, while all three of them mused quietly, feeling the same thoughts echo across three minds.

Naruto was quickly beginning to realise that even if he had three bodies, there was only one Naruto. They were all the same person. Talking to his clones was exactly the same as talking to himself.

He couldn't help but grimace slightly at the irony. For so long, Naruto had been isolated and lonely. Now, Naruto never had to be alone again, but he still felt just as lonely. Being surrounded by yourself was not the same as actually having company. It was a sobering thought.

All three bodies fell silent as they all thought the exact same thing. Quietly, they all picked up the ramen cup and started eating. Three sets of mouths chewed with perfect timing.

_We've got an examination tomorrow_, Naruto-One recalled quietly. _Survival test._ _We're not allowed breakfast_.

_Yeah_, Naruto-A agreed. Three stomachs winced slightly at the thought. _That sucks_.

Naruto-Alpha paused between bites of ramen. _You know_… he mused quietly. _Really, only _one_ of us actually has to go without breakfast…_

Naruto-A turned to Naruto-One smugly. _And it is _your_ turn tomorrow_.

Naruto-One groaned. _Dammit!_ The clone cursed mentally, before adding, _Although you know that you're both going to feel my hunger as well, right?_

The whole idea of a survival test started to whir through Narutos' minds. If he went in with three bodies, then he'd be just about unbeatable. Only one clone had to participate visibly, when the other two could support. Hell, he could have one of him solely supplying food for the other two if he needed.

The thought made them all smile. With a mischievous grin, Naruto-One thought slowly, _It seems like this whole exam would be a hell of a lot easier if we brought more people to our side…_

All three of the smirked and put down their ramen at the same time. _Come on,_ they thought together; _let's get working_.

* * *

><p>Sasuke quietly walked through the empty street towards his home, as dusk settled over the village. His house was one of the old Uchiha apartment buildings, a relic of the prestige clan, and he had it all to himself. Even after most of the Uchiha properties were confiscated by the state after the massacre, Sasuke remained the sole legal heir of an incredibly wealthy clan. His building was large enough to house several whole families, furnished and cleaned to perfection, but Sasuke was in absolutely no rush to get back home. After all, there wasn't anything waiting for himself there.<p>

Despite his best efforts to clean himself up, there was still some pink glitter in his hair and he stunk of snake. Sasuke's still growled and tensed when he thought of Naruto and his prank, but he wasn't _really_ angry.

_Naruto is nothing but an irritating annoyance_, Sasuke decided finally. _He's not important enough to waste my anger on._

The setting sun cast long shadows across the street, as Sasuke walked, very slowly, through a deserted alley.

_All of my hatred is reserved solely for big brother_.

* * *

><p><em>Early next morning…<em>

_I have five clones now_, Naruto-One thought to himself, looking out over the training ground, moving through the senses of his doppelgangers. Naruto-Alpha and Naruto-A were both nearby, ready to assist when necessary.

His two newest clones, Naruto-Prime and Naruto-First, still weak from being created last night, were keeping their distance; Naruto-Prime was in the treeline, keeping watch, while Naruto-First was in reserve.

All five Naruto's paused. _We can't keep on naming ourselves different variations of number one_, Naruto-One thought slowly. _We're running out of different names here. _Eventually_, someone is going to have to be named number two._

_Not going to be me! _All five Narutos snapped instinctively.

They all paused, and then grimaced. _God_, they thought with a sudden realisation, _I'm a stubborn bastard sometimes_.

Naruto had half expected himself to be the first one there. Naruto had an entire game plan prepared for facing Kakashi and all his clones were in position, but Sasuke was there first. The dark haired boy was sitting crossed legged by the trees, and both of them quite deliberately didn't interact with each other as Naruto moved to sit down on the opposite side of the clearing.

About fifteen minutes later, Hinata arrived, looking even more nervous than usual. She hesitated for a long time, before sitting on the opposite side of the clearing from Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto thought about starting a conversation with her for a while, but she always mumbled incoherently whenever he tried, so Naruto just assumed that she wasn't interested in talking.

About thirty minutes later, all three of them started to realise that Kakashi's tardiness was obviously going to be a recurring theme, and they settled in for the long wait.

Meanwhile, Naruto's doppelgangers went to get a snack. In the clearing, Naruto was left stewing in uncomfortable silence as his stomach churned with hunger.

About two hours later, they glimpsed Kakashi casually strolling towards the train ground. By that time, Naruto was nearly growling with hunger and frustration.

"Hey guys, good morning!" Kakashi shouted cheerfully. His single visible eye was totally relaxed and casual.

"You're late!" Naruto bellowed loudly. Sasuke just stood with his arms folded, glaring at Kakashi, while Hinata was too busy staring at the ground.

"Ah, I lost track of time as I was contemplating the meaning of the universe," Kakashi said in mock apology, idly flexing his arms and rummaging around in his pockets. "Now then, let's get started. Survival training."

With frustrating slowness, Kakashi pulled out a small alarm clock from his flak jacket and placed it on a tree stomp. All three genin looked at him curiously as he wound the clock up.

"Ok, it's set for noon," Kakashi said lazily, turning to face the three of them. He slowly pulled out two small bells out of his pocket, as they rung gently. "Here are two bells. Your task is simple. You've just got to take these from me before the time is up."

He gestured to the three stumps at the edge of the clearing. "Those who don't have a bell by noon, gets no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of the stumps but I'll also eat in front of you." Three sets of stomachs rumbled at the thought. Naruto felt like collapsing. In the distance, four other Narutos were laughing. "You only need one bell," Kakashi continued, shaking the bells gently. "There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to the stump."

His voice didn't change, but his gaze became slightly darker. "And…" Kakashi muttered quietly. "I've got no time for _three_ genins. The person who doesn't take a bell fails the exam. At least one of you will be sent back to the Academy."

The mood became darker. Sasuke slowly cracked his knuckles, discretely tensing his body. Naruto's fists clenched. Hinata looked nearly frantic with worry. "… But… but you can't do that!" Hinata protested in a squirrely voice. "Every genin group needs three –"

"I can do whatever I want," Kakashi countered coolly, turning to Hinata. "You think I care that you and Sasuke are both clan heirs? I honestly couldn't give a damn what your father would say; I'll fail anyone who doesn't meet _my_ standards."

Hinata gulped and backed down slightly. Kakashi eye swept over her, lazily critical. "If you want to pass, all you need to do is get a bell. Like I said, it's simple," he said dismissively. "If you want, you can use shurikens and kunais. You're not going to succeed unless you come at me with intent to kill."

"That's easy!" Naruto shouted triumphantly. "I'll get both of those bells no problem!"

"Don't make the mistake of confusing 'simple' with 'easy'," Kakashi muttered, looking at Naruto teasingly. "Well, ignore Mr. Dead Last here and start when I say… Dead Last! Dead Last! _Dead Last!_"

A vein bulged on Naruto's forehead as his whole body tensed in anger. Quick as a flash, Naruto snatched a kunai from its hoister, swirling the sharp blade around his fingers as he prepared to throw. Kakashi didn't even move. Naruto's arm tensed.

And then, so fast he didn't even blur, a firm pair of hands grabbed Naruto's wrist and the back of his head. By the time Naruto's eyes even registered that Kakashi had vanished, the sharp pinpoint of the kunai pressed slightly against the back of his neck.

"You know, I'd have thought that your experience with _Mizuki_ would have taught you not to be so reckless," Kakashi whispered quietly into Naruto's ear. The blond barely had time to comprehend what had just happened. Naruto tried to struggle, but Kakashi's grip was iron.

"Allow me to teach you one of the most fundamental moves in a ninja's arsenal," Kakashi announced to the team. "_The execution strike_."

Hinata gasped in shock. Even Sasuke looked alarmed. Kakashi's hand wrapped tightly around Naruto's throat. "Firstly, get behind your opponent like this. Clutch his throat like this, and then hold his arm backwards like _this_." Naruto winced in pain as Kakashi twisted his shoulder back, but Kakashi clutched his throat so tightly he couldn't even gasp. The jounin's voice was as lazy as ever. "The trick is to stay close and keep the momentum. If your opponent has leverage, he can throw you off. Do it properly, and he's helpless."

"After that, you need the finishing strike. It has to be quick, clean and quiet. Snapping the neck is a nice option; simply move your body weight and twist counter-clockwise." Naruto gulped, but Kakashi's voice was frighteningly calm and instructive. It was the voice of experience. "Don't ask me why counter-clockwise; it's just easier that way for some reason. Alternatively, you could pull backwards and snap their spine."

With practiced easy, Kakashi twisted Naruto's arm around. He was clutching Naruto's wrist so tightly he couldn't even move his fingers. "Or…" Kakashi continued slowly, pressing the sharp metal edge a bit further on to Naruto's skin. "… there's the old ninja favourite; a kunai, right through temple, into the _brain_."

Naruto's mouth dropped open. He heard Kakashi whisper quietly into his ear. "… you know what that feels like, don't you, Naruto?" The jounin whispered. Naruto was left absolutely speechless with dread, even as Kakashi let go of his grip and Naruto toppled to the ground.

Hinata rushed to Naruto's aid quickly. Kakashi measured their expressions slowly; Naruto was shocked, Hinata was scared, while Sasuke looked almost… _hungry_. Kakashi tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Like I said, come at me with intent to kill," Kakashi said quietly. "You can't be a ninja if you're afraid of drawing blood."

A tense silence settled over the clearing. "Now then… Begin!"

* * *

><p><em>So then<em>, Kakashi mused quietly as he glanced around the clearing. _I've got three genin each from prestige clans and very powerful bloodlines. This might be interesting. _

He glanced around the clearing as Hinata and Sasuke disappeared into the woods. Kakashi could still tell where they were, of course, but they were still fairly well hidden. He nodded approvingly, before turning his attention to the bright orange figure demanding his attention.

"Come here and fight me!" Naruto bellowed, standing in front Kakashi boldly.

The jounin rubbed his head in doubt. "Umm… You're a little bit off…" He mumbled.

"The only thing that's off is your haircut!" Naruto bellowed defiantly, before charging at Kakashi quickly.

Underneath his mask, the jounin smirked. _Alright, if you want to play that game_… "Ninja fighting lesson number one…" Kakashi mumbled, digging into his bag. "_Taijutsu_."

Naruto nearly collapsed when he saw Kakashi pull out a little orange book. The words 'Come Come Paradise' were emblazoned brightly on the cover. Kakashi was already grinning under his mask as he flipped to where he left off. Naruto looked confused.

"I just want to know what happens next," Kakashi explained simply, hunched over his book. "Don't worry, it won't make a difference against you guys."

It took a few minutes for the statement to sink in Naruto looked confused for a moment, before his face twist in anger. "I'll totally kick your ass!"

Naruto leapt off the ground with a backwards fist. Kakashi blocked it so casually he barely even noticed. Naruto screamed in rage as he twisted around in mid-air with a spinning kick. Kakashi had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

_Honestly_, Kakashi thought to himself, turning the page. _He might as well just put a big sign telling me how he's going to attack next._

Kakashi ducked as Naruto's foot went over his head. The genin recovered quickly, bouncing off the ground and striking downwards with his fist. Naruto never even registered that Kakashi disappeared right up until the moment he heard a quiet voice from behind.

"A ninja isn't meant to be caught from behi–" Kakashi started, but then he caught a flash of movement leaping from the trees at him. Suddenly, a second Naruto, an exact doppelganger to the first, leapt out of the ground, screaming as he jumped down at the jounin.

_Ah, this clone jutsu… I'm quite interested in testing this one, actually_, Kakashi mused, idly twisting the side as he avoid the second Naruto's surprise attack.

"You know you shouldn't scream when you're launching an ambush," Kakashi chided, leaping backwards gracefully. The Naruto clone missed and went rolling to the ground. "It kind of gives away any element of surpris–"

If it hadn't been for years of experience and honed reflexes, the two hands bursting out of the ground would have caught Kakashi. Instead, he only just managed to jump over them as they snatched for his foot. _A third clone, camouflaged in the ground, just waiting to get me_, Kakashi realised. _The other two were loud and brash deliberately – distractions. He actually managed to distract to me_.

Underneath his mask, Kakashi grinned, while his foot slammed against the third Naruto's head and buried his face into the ground. _Not bad_, Kakashi conceded.

All three Narutos staggered to their feet, glaring at Kakashi furiously. Without even a moment of hesitation, all three of them leapt at Kakashi with a swift combination of kicks and punches. The coordination was perfect. Unnaturally perfect. Kakashi surpassed Naruto in speed and reflexes by a huge margin and still managed to dodge each blow, but the flurry of kicks and punches was still formidable.

"So this is your new technique," Kakashi commented lazily, weaving between the orange blurs launching themselves at him. "Hmm… No matter how many of you line up, you still can't beat me with that jutsu."

"Shut up!" Naruto grunted loudly. It took Kakashi a few seconds to realise that it was actually three Narutos speaking as one. They really were _that_ in synch. "I will make you acknowledge me!"

One Naruto grabbed another and spun him forward for a powerful spinning kick. Kakashi smirked, channelling chakra with practiced ease and quickly disappearing with a barely noticeable blur. In an instant, Kakashi was walking behind the clones, while the third Naruto suddenly found himself masked in an illusion and dropped in the way of his doppelganger's kick. The Kawarimi, Body Replacement Technique, was so perfect that not even a Sannin would have been able to notice.

_Let's see how you like kicking_ _yourself_, Kakashi thought smugly, just as Naruto unwittingly charged at his clone.

Except that was what should have happened. Instead, as soon as Kakashi flickered away, all three Narutos changed direction and jumped after him. Kakashi reacted a second too late, just as realisation struck him.

_They see through each other's eyes!_ Kakashi cursed himself silently. _Of course the Kawarimi was never going to work!_

Naruto was too close; there wasn't even time to dodge. Instead, Kakashi reacted quickly, his hand flashing out as he swatted two of the clones to the ground with a sharp jab. The third one dived at him, just as Kakashi sidestepped and stuck out his foot. Naruto toppled to the ground, but all three bodies were up again in seconds.

_I'm too used to fighting against Shadow Clones_, Kakashi mused. He still half-expected the clones to turn to smoke with a slight knock, but these clones all felt just as solid as a real person.

"I've got you now!" Naruto roared, just as all three bodies twisted around to surround Kakashi. The jounin looked completely unconcerned, yet he wasn't reading his book anymore.

They leapt at him together. Kakashi sidestepped and spun, tripping one body over and sending it falling into another. Generally, when he was surrounded, it was good practice to play his opponents against each other, but it was no good. The Naruto clones were better coordinated than a team that had a spent decades working with each other, and they all just adapted and moved as one.

Kakashi was beginning to realise that they weren't three different people; he was facing a single opponent with three different bodies. Individually, each Naruto was weak and untrained, but as organised team, it was actually proving to be a surprisingly difficult challenge.

Still, there was no point letting Naruto know that. "Is this all you can do, dead-last?" Kakashi taunted, raising an eyebrow. "You'll never become Hokage like _this_."

"Shut up!" All three Narutos bellowed, the doppelgangers charging as one. Kakashi kept both hands by his side, agilely stepping behind them and kicking one to the ground with a lazy kick. Another Naruto tried to react, but Kakashi swept his leg out and knocked him off his off his feet. The other Naruto couldn't even turn around in time as Kakashi sidestepped behind him and struck downwards for a debilitating swipe to the back of the neck.

Or, at least, he tried to. Naruto managed to drop to the ground at the last second, just as Kakashi's hand hit nothing but air. Kakashi's eye widened in shock for a moment. _Now how did you do that?_ The jounin mused. _You shouldn't have even been able to see that attack from behind, and the other two Narutos were on the ground, so – oh, of course, you must have a fourth clone hiding in the trees somewhere._

The thought made Kakashi smile, not that Naruto could see it. Naruto was definitely prepared, and putting up a good fight. He didn't stand a chance to get the bells, of course, but at least Naruto had the teamwork amongst himself down. _If only he actually learns to work with the others now… _

Kakashi didn't have time to waste on Naruto. The clones were stubborn to defeat, and he had two other genin that he needed to test. It was time to end this.

"Alright then," Kakashi mused, absentmindedly dodging a flurry of attacks. Two clones were trying to get him close quarters, while the third had started launching kunai from a distance. Kakashi lazily dodged every blow and caught every kunai. "It looks like you're ready to proceed to ninja lesson number two: _genjutsu_."

"Shut up!" Naruto bellowed. All three of his bodies were out of breath. "Stop acting so arrogant! I'm going to get those bells!"

"No you're not," Kakashi said pleasantly. His hands flicked through the handseals so quickly that Naruto couldn't even recognise them. "You're going to sleep now."

A phantom wind surrounded them. The Naruto clones all paused, staring in shock as their eyelids started to flicker. Naruto had such incredibly terrible chakra control that he never even sensed the foreign chakra invading his system.

"Umm…uh… what did you do to me…?" Naruto mumbled confusedly, staring at Kakashi in shock. His vision wavered. Suddenly, all of his perceptions changed. He blinked multiple times, twisting his head as instantly everything turned upside down. "Say… how come you're standing on the ceiling…?"

Naruto blinked again. In an instant, the world was twisted a hundred and eighty degrees, and Naruto was left clinging onto the floor as he hovered over the bottomless pit of sky. Then, gravity reasserted itself and he was left falling downwards up into the air. Naruto couldn't even scream as the air was wrapped out of his lungs, arms flapping madly.

In the real world, Kakashi watched curiously as all three Naruto clones tremored, convulsed and then dropped to the floor like a stone. All three of them were completely unconscious. "Damn," Kakashi muttered to himself. "You really don't have any resistance against genjutsu at all, do you?"

Kakashi stood over the limp bodies for a few seconds. He paused, glanced into the woods, and then slowly drew a kunai. Without warning, Kakashi suddenly struck downwards with the kunai, thrusting it straight towards Naruto's defenceless body.

Suddenly, a shuriken collided with the kunai, taking the metal blade straight out of Kakashi's hand. He nodded smugly, and then turned around to face the figure dropping out of trees. Hinata was staring at him breathlessly.

"I figured that you would appear if you thought that Naruto was in danger," Kakashi explained, turning to face Hinata. Her face was flushed. "But tell me, if you care so much about him, then why didn't you fight beside him when he needed help the most?"

She didn't respond, but Kakashi saw the blush rise on her cheeks. Even from this distance, Kakashi could clearly see how much her hands were trembling as she dropped into a fighting stance. A typical Hyuuga pose.

_This one has some serious self-esteem issue_, Kakashi noted curiously. Still, Kakashi could recognise the signs of talent in Hinata's pose. Naruto's form had been wild and all over the place, but Hinata's was reserved, poised and obviously well-practiced.

_She won't make the first move_, Kakashi realised, sizing up her stance expertly. It was only because she thought Naruto was in danger that she came out of hiding at all. _Oh well, I'd better attack her first_.

In an instant, Kakashi's body grew hazy and flickered. His mastery of the Body Flicker Technique meant he could use it without handseals, which caught Hinata off-caught. Still, she recovered quickly, just as Kakashi appeared behind her and struck out with a lazy kick. Hinata dodged, jumped backwards and lashed out with a kunai. Kakashi swatted the metal blade away absentmindedly.

"Come on now, you can't beat me with attacks like that," Kakashi teased gently. While Hinata took her stance again, staring at him with wide eyes. She was very defensive, always hesitant to attack. _She was definitely less aggressive than the other two genin in the group_, Kakashi decided. _Then again, what reason did she have to attack? The Hyuuga style was always much more effective at reflecting attacks than delivering them._

"Alright," Kakashi decided finally. "Ninja lesson number three; _ninjutsu_."

Hinata's eyes widened in shock as Kakashi's hands flickered through the handseals. She started running as she felt the chakra pulse, but it was too late. The ground beneath her feet suddenly turned soft and twisted as the earth rose up to grab her ankles, but Hinata reacted quickly. A sharp pulse of chakra launched from her feet to break away the earth, just enough for her to jump out of the range of the jutsu.

_Not bad_, Kakashi nodded. She had very good chakra control and a nice stance. Just as her feet hit the ground, Kakashi charged in with a deliberately slow uppercut. Hinata dodged the blow easily, but just when she had the chance to counteract, she hesitated. Kakashi responded by tripping her over and easily pushing her to the ground.

She recovered quickly. This time, she did strike, but it was with a normal soft-palm attack rather than a chakra infused scalpel. As far as the Hyuuga Gentle Fist style went, she was obviously well practiced with the stances and forms, but not so much with the jutsu element of it. Again, Kakashi could feel the doubt and hesitation in every move she made.

_It's a shame too_, Kakashi decided. _She'd be quite formidable if she had more confidence_.

"I'm guessing you haven't awakened your Byakugan yet, right?" Kakashi asked conversationally, as he easily twisted Hinata's arm around her back. His voice was sincere. "It was a good effort, though," he praised, just as he gave her a sharp push forward. Hinata tripped, and toppled straight downwards into the earth jutsu trap. She squealed as the earth wrapped around her and hardened, encasing her limbs tightly.

As Hinata struggled to escape, Kakashi glanced around. "Alright then," he muttered out loud. He slowly turned around to stare out into the distance. "I guess there's only one left to–"

The barrage of shurikens and kunai hit him as soon as he turned his back. Kakashi had already predicted the surprise attack and Kawarimi'd away, but the viciousness of the blow was still fairly impressive. If Kakashi hadn't been so suspicious, then that attack would have turned him into a pincushion.

In the distance, he heard Sasuke curse as the genin realised that Kakashi had left the opening on purpose. Before Sasuke could even find a new hiding place, Kakashi was standing behind him, leaning against a tree, reading his book coolly, as he inspected the young Uchiha. Sasuke clutched a duel pair of kunais tightly.

"Be careful," Sasuke muttered quietly, not turning around. "…I'm not the same as them…"

Kakashi looked up from his book curiously. He'd barely had a chance to read anything of Come Come Paradise. Strangely, though, he wasn't too interested in his smut anymore.

"I'm counting on it," Kakashi replied simply, looking at Sasuke with an attentive glimmer in his eye.

* * *

><p><em>Wake up! Wake up you moron!<em> A loud voice bellowed in Naruto's mind.

Groggily, Naruto's eyes flickered open, unfocused. As soon as his pupils managed to focus, he gasped and recoiled at the sight. Around him, the whole world was spinning in dizzily spirals. It was so disorientating he almost collapsed again.

_The world!_ Naruto thought with panic. _It's gone haywire!_

_No it hasn't!_ The voice snapped irritably. Naruto-A slowly recognised the voice as Naruto-Prime, yelling mentally at him. _It was Kakashi, he used some sort of illusion thing on you. Your perceptions have gone mad. Just ignore absolutely everything you think you're seeing and focus on my vision instead._

Slowly, Naruto-A concentrated on the presence in his mind, opening up the senses until it was all he could see. In an instant, the spinning stopped and Naruto-A was looking through Naruto-Prime's eyes, staring at himself, Naruto-Alpha and Naruto-One all lying on the ground; blinking and looking around uncertainly. The other two Naruto clones were all coming to their senses as well.

Uncertainly, the three clones stood up wobbly. Their senses were off; it was like they had to control their own bodies through the third person, and Naruto-Prime was some distance away, hiding in the trees. The viewpoint was disorientating to say the least. Still, it was a lot better than feeling like everything was spiralling around them.

In the distance, there was a huge rumble, followed by a plume of smoke rising over the treeline. _What was that?!_ Three Narutos demanded together.

_Sasuke-jerk_, Naruto-First replied bitterly, relaying the scene to them. _He's fighting Kakashi now and he's making us look bad. Come on, we've got to go beat him up right now_.

_You mean Kakashi?_

_Him too_.

The memories of their last battle with Kakashi were still fresh and the bruises were still sore. Even three on one, with every trick Naruto had, the jounin had still owned him without breaking a sweat. _We need a plan_, Naruto-One decided firmly; _we need to catch him off-guard and get those bells!_

_How?_ Naruto-Alpha argued. _He's too fast. He just doesn't make mistakes_.

_Actually, that's not true_, Naruto-Prime realised as he reviewed the memories of their fight. _Remember, he made quite a few mistakes. I don't think he's used to our clone technique; he doesn't know much about it and he tripped up a few times._

_So we've got to work together here_, Naruto-A mused. He rubbed his chin as his brain strained to think of a plan. Four other Narutos were thinking just as hard; their brains meshing together as they concentrated. We need some sort of distraction. It's got to be something he won't expect – an absolutely unpredictabl–

Inspiration struck. The idea made them all gasp. _Ohhh!_ They paused for a second. _Yeah, that'll work_.

_It'll take me twenty minutes to run back into the village and back_, Naruto-First offered. _Keep him busy until then, I'll get the supplies._

_Good. Remember, he's only knows that we've got three clones_, _but he might suspect a fourth_, Naruto-One reasoned. _Let's keep the fifth one as a surprise_.

_Ok, battle time, people!_ Naruto-A thought determinedly. _Let's roll!_

* * *

><p>Kakashi looked at Sasuke bemusedly. Only the genin's head was visible, the rest of him had been swallowed by the earth. The dark-haired boy was quite impressive, and he definitely deserved his title of rookie of the year. The jounin was pretty impressed that he had even managed to touch the bells, but of course Sasuke was never good enough to win. Still, Kakashi nodded approvingly as he strolled away, head in buried in his book again.<p>

_Yeah, Sasuke is definitely good. He'll likely get even stronger if he awakens his Sharingan. His team-working skills have a lot to be desired, but I can work with that_, Kakashi mused. _Both Hinata and Naruto did pretty well too. Naruto's clone technique is definitely formidable and he uses it well, and Hinata has very good chakra control and strategy. Hinata just needs a bit more confidence while Naruto probably has a bit too much._

Still, the bell test was useless unless they could actually all work together. Unless they could make that first step from being three individuals to being an actual team, Kakashi was quite prepared to fail them all.

It was nearly noon already. Sasuke might well escape from the earth trap before the time limit, and Kakashi suspected Hinata would too. Kakashi might have gone a bit overboard with that genjutsu on Naruto, so those three clones would be down for the count. Naruto might have other clones running around, but otherwise Kakashi didn't really expect any more major challenges to get the bells. Right now, it was simply a matter of walking around and waiting for the bell to ring.

_I think I'll have to tie Hinata to the post_, Kakashi decided. _I'd have to plant more posts if I wanted to tie up all of Naruto's bodies, for one._

There was a light rustle in the bushes. A less suspicious man would have mistaken it for a bird, but Kakashi might as well have invented suspicion. The jounin didn't noticeably react and kept on walking normally, but he was also fully prepared for the moment when two Naruto's leapt out of the foliage towards him.

Kakashi quickly sidestepped, reaching out and grabbing a clone by one of its legs, then throwing him into his partner. Both doppelgangers landed on the ground with a painful thud.

"Hey there Naruto," Kakashi said casually, not looking up from his book. Behind him, a third clone burst out of the bushes and threw a shuriken at Kakashi's back. The jounin idly caught the blade. "You're here to try again, then?"

All three of them growled, pulled themselves up and yelled, "I'll get those bells!"

Curiously, Kakashi recognised the light bruises and scuff marks on their clones. These were the three clones that Kakashi had hit with that genjutsu. Naruto most certainly didn't have the control to dispel it. "Say, how did you escape that illusion?" Kakashi asked curiously. "It shouldn't have worn off yet."

Naruto didn't respond, but instead he charged at Kakashi from three sides. The jounin's eye was alert for any trap, but instead it was just a normal and completely futile frontal assault. All three Narutos were sent skidding to the ground by a series of swift, light kicks.

They didn't pause. Instead, Naruto leapt upwards, launching at Kakashi with duel spinning kicks followed by an uppercut. Kakashi pushed two clones into each other casually, before tripping the other one over. Again, all three of them stood up and attacked once ore. They panting heavily, but still going.

"You don't learn very quickly, do you?" Kakashi teased as he weaved easily through the blows, but inside he was alert. Previously, Naruto had been stubborn, yes, but also clever. Now, he was using nothing but futile frontal assaults. _Is he just desperate, or is he trying to lure me into some trap?_ Kakashi mused. Either way, it justified Kakashi putting his book down.

"I've learned how to kick your ass!" Naruto bellowed, lashing out with an easily predictable right hook. Kakashi had to resist the urge to roll his eyes as he caught the blow and planted the clone's face firmly into the ground.

They kept on attacking with the same useless attacks. Now Kakashi was certain; Naruto was deliberately wasting time. Kakashi might have suspected these clones were distractions while another one went for the food, but that didn't make sense. The majority of Naruto's bodies clearly weren't hungry, and anyways the lunch boxes were so heavily booby-trapped that no one stood a chance of getting them. In normal circumstances, Kakashi would have taken all three of the clones down and interrupted whatever Naruto had planned, but this was a test and Kakashi was curious. He played with Naruto for a while longer, casually kicking his bodies to the ground while waiting for whatever was coming.

"This is getting boring," Kakashi yawned eventually, nonchalantly blocking a barrage of rapid punches. All three Narutos were tiring now.

"Be quiet!" Naruto snapped, panting as he pulled himself off the ground again. "I'll make you acknowledge me!"

"Acknowledge you as what?" Kakashi asked dryly. "A massive annoyance?"

"Shut up!" They all bellowed, charging at him together. Kakashi's leg whipped out in a blindingly fast spinning kick, knocking all three of them onto the ground.

It was only when they hit the ground that Kakashi noticed they were all clutching something. It was a single, long piece of rope, wrapped around Kakashi like a net. The realisation hit quickly. _He used the momentum of my own kick to position it around me_. All three Narutos must have past it between them as they charged, and now the rope surrounded Kakashi like a net. The jounin recognised the grin on all three Narutos' face as they all pulled the rope tight as it whipped towards Kakashi like a lasso.

"Now!" The Naruto clones bellowed, and Kakashi glimpsed a flash of orange in the foliage trigger something. There was a whip of tripwire being cut, followed by the sharp lash of a trap bursting through the vegetation.

Suddenly the air was covered in kunai and shuriken, launched from both sides in a deadly rain of sharp metal. Kakashi didn't appear to move, even as the metal hit him straight on, repeatedly puncturing his body.

For half a second, the clearing was deathly silent. Then, 'Kakashi' disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving behind a pile of splinters that was once a log.

A few seconds later, the real Kakashi appeared from the side, folding his arms as he looked at the fourth Naruto clone doubtfully.

"Seriously?" Kakashi asked sceptically. The air blurred, and with three sharp blows the trio of Narutos collapsed to the ground, unconscious. "_That_ was your plan? Distract me while you had time to set up the trap? I don't know; I was expecting something a bit more… impressive…"

There was only one Naruto clone still standing now. His arms were shaking, his face contoured in rage. "Shut up!" Naruto screamed. "Don't you _dare_ look down on me!"

His voice tremored with rage. Kakashi paused. "It's over, Naruto," the jounin said lazily, motioning to the alarm clock. "There's three minutes left, and you're not going to get a bell so why not just–"

"I said shut up!" Naruto screeched, quickly drawing a kunai and throwing it at Kakashi with all of his might. Kakashi had time to roll his eye before snatching the metal blade out of the air. Naruto was snarling with rage.

"Naruto, you–"

"Shut up!" Naruto bellowed. A vein bulged on his forehead. Suddenly, there were half a dozen shurikens in his hand and then they were all spinning at Kakashi. "You don't get to talk to talk down to me!"

The jounin deflected them all with ease. Naruto just screeched in fury and drew more. He barely even paused to aim, and then Naruto was hurling every kunai and shuriken he had, the air shimmering with metal.

Kakashi barely even needed to dodge the weapons. Naruto was just throwing blindly now. "Naruto, you're wasting ammunition now," Kakashi said irritably, just as metal star thudded into the trunk of a tree with a cloud of splinters.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Naruto screeched, as trembling hands unfastened more and more pockets on his jumpsuit. The orange jumpsuit held a lot of ammunition. _Perhaps I pushed him too far_, Kakashi thought with a grimace, just as Naruto madly threw a hail of shurikens.

The metal stars twisted in the air. Kakashi easily sidestepped them, but he never looked behind him.

He never even noticed the figure approaching from behind until he heard the dull thud of impact.

* * *

><p>Struggling, Hinata finally managed to break through the earthen bounds. The dry dirt broke off her wrists, and then she managed to drag herself out of the ground. Her heart was pounding frantically.<p>

She was going to lose. That was the only thought that spiralled in her head. She wouldn't get a bell, and Kakashi would fail her. Her father would disown her, and exile her.

And Naruto would never even look at her again.

Hinata's hands trembled with pure panic. _I can't lose here_, she thought frantically. I can't, I can't, I can't…

That was the only thing going through her mind as she stumbled to her feet and started running. She could hear Naruto screaming as he fought Kakashi. _I have to help_, Hinata thought desperately. _I have to be there. Failure is not an opti–_

She never even had time to react as she saw the stray shuriken fly out of the clearing. There was a sickening crunch of metal through bone, and then a body dropped to the ground.

* * *

><p>Dark blue hair. Cream jacket. Pale skin. Wide eyes. And a shuriken jutting out of her forehead.<p>

Kakashi's eye widened in pure and utter fear as he saw Hinata crumple to her knees and collapse. Blood splattered onto the ground. All casual laziness was gone as Kakashi raced to catch her. He was there in a blur, but it was too late. The shuriken split straight through her skull. He could see her brain leaking onto the ground.

"No…" Kakashi gasped, hands tightening into fists. "No! No! _No!_"

A stray shuriken. Hinata must have walked straight into its path. An accident. The thought made him sick. She wasn't even a teenager yet. A genin straight out school. And now Kakashi had to stand in front of the Hokage and her father and explain that he let her die…

He clutched her shoulders tightly, but he could tell without checking that Hinata was well and truly dead.

_She had been part of my team._

The thought brought back so, so many memories of the last time he had been in a team, and the last time he had let an innocent girl die…

For an instant, Kakashi was left completely and utterly paralysed. Vaguely, he was aware of Naruto rushing to his side.

Then, the sound of laughter cut him out of paralysis. Reeling in shock, Kakashi turned to stare at Naruto, who was laughing furiously as he clutched both the bells tightly. Kakashi hadn't even realised he took them.

"Got them!" Naruto shouted triumphantly. All previous anger was gone. Kakashi couldn't believe his eye as he saw Naruto's smile. "_Told_ you that I would get both of the bells!"

Kakashi's hands tightened into fists. All composure was gone. "Naruto, _what are you doing?!_" He bellowed furiously. "Hinata is dea–"

His voice stopped as he looked to the edge of the clearing. Suddenly, he saw Hinata, standing completely unharmed, as she looked at the scene in front of her with utter shock. Kakashi's mouth dropped open.

For a few seconds, he didn't move. Then, Kakashi turned around towards the corpse of 'Hinata' and gently pulled her hair. The dark blue wig came off easily, revealing a mop of blond hair underneath. Kakashi's eye bulged.

It took the normally composed jounin a while just to form the words. "…This…" Kakashi stammered, pointing between the dead body and Naruto in dumb realisation. "…This is your _clone_!?"

"Yep!" Naruto said cheerfully, holding the bells tightly. "I just had to distract you while my clone ran back to Konoha and bought a dark blue wig and a change in clothes." He looked at the dead body curiously. "It's not a _perfect_ copy," Naruto admitted. "But I used a henge and, after that, you were too shocked to notice. That made it pretty easy to swipe the bells while you were distracted."

Kakashi was still trying to recover himself. In Naruto's hand, the two bells jingled happily. From the distance, Sasuke staggered out to stare at what was happening. Meanwhile, the alarm clock finally triggered, signalling that the bell test was over. The training ground was still stuck in stunned silence.

"But this was your _clone_," Kakashi said finally, lowering his voice as he looked at the dead Naruto. "You mean actually killed yourself just to get those bells?"

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, why not? I mean, he was only a clone. I could just make another one tomorrow." He paused slightly, and then grimaced as he rubbed his forehead sorely. "Don't me get wrong; it wasn't _pleasant_. I felt everything he felt, and it _hurt_. But still, Naruto-First agreed that it was the only way we were going to catch you off-guard, so he took one for the team."

Kakashi paused, trying to think. Around him, Sasuke and Hinata were staring between the dead Naruto dressed as Hinata, and then three unconscious Narutos lying on the ground. They must have seen Naruto's clones and assumed they were Shadow Clones, but now they were confused. Kakashi's fists tightened as he stared firmly at the two bells jingling in Naruto's hand.

Naruto had actually beaten the bell test.

_This is wrong_, Kakashi thought furiously. The whole point of the bell test was that the genin never got the bells. The principle didn't work otherwise. The bell test itself was a futile challenge designed to teach and test teamwork. The genins were _supposed_ to fail the first test.

"I've got both bells anyways," Naruto said eagerly; completely oblivious to the growing confusion of Sasuke and Hinata. "That means I pass, right?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed. _Ok, if you want to play it _that_ way_. "To pass, you need to get a single bell," Kakashi said coolly. "But you've _two_ bells there. You can't have a team of just one."

Naruto paused in realisation at what Kakashi meant. "Oh," he said dumbly, before shrugging. "Ok then, Hinata take this." Naruto casually threw a bell towards Hinata. She caught it easily, despite the blush rising up her cheeks. "You're pretty nice. I saw you try to help me, and I guess if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have caught Kakashi out."

Hinata never responded. Sasuke looked between Naruto and Hinata confusedly. Nobody spoke. Kakashi's eye was cold.

"Alright, I guess that solves that one," Kakashi said with frosty cheerfulness. "Congratulations, Hinata, Naruto, you two pass. I'll see you tomorrow." The jounin looked at Sasuke dismissively. "Sasuke, so sorry, but you fail. Tomorrow you're going back to the Academy."

* * *

><p>There was a silence as Kakashi's words were slowly digested. Naruto's smile gradually disappeared. For a few seconds, Sasuke looked confused. And then, Sasuke felt the anger seeping through. He glared at Kakashi with furious eyes.<p>

"_What?!_" Sasuke bellowed, glancing between Naruto and Hinata, and then back to Kakashi. "You're choosing _them_, over _me_?!"

The jounin just shrugged. "Hey, you knew the rules. Whoever has a bell passes, and you don't have a bell," he said simply. The jounin held his hands up in mock innocence.

"You can't do th–"

"Oh, but I can," Kakashi interjected coldly. "At the end of the day, the genin teams are solely the responsibility of the jounin supervisor. If I say you're out, then it's back to the Academy you go. Better luck next time, I guess."

For half a second, Sasuke was speechless. His face was red and his fists were constantly clenching and releasing. He looked ready to kill someone. Kakashi was as cool and as composed as ever.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "This is ridiculous! How could you possible choose –"

"Hey, _I_ didn't choose anyone," Kakashi said with a shrug. "If you want someone to thank, thank Naruto. _He's_ the one who chose Hinata over you."

Sasuke turned to glare at Naruto with mad, furious eyes. The blond haired genin floundered, speechless, growing more uncertain with every passing second. Kakashi just continued almost conversationally.

"I mean, Naruto, how _does_ it feel to have casually ruined Sasuke's ambition?" Kakashi asked pleasantly. "Sasuke here has been devoted to being a ninja for years, and, well, after getting rejected by one team… he might never actually get another chance again. He could be trapped as an Academy student for the rest of his life, which is _such_ a shame considering everything he aims to achieve. Hell, you might have just ruined Sasuke's life right then." His voice turned cold. "So, then Naruto, are you feeling proud of that _decision_?"

Nobody spoke. Naruto wasn't smiling triumphantly anymore. His face was pale as he stared at Sasuke uncertainly, all the while clutching his bell tightly.

Kakashi just shrugged. "Then _again_…" The jounin continued. "I might be being too harsh here. After all, Hinata has a lot to lose as well." The young girl retreated slightly as Kakashi motioned to her. "If she fails here, I expect her father wouldn't be very happy at all. Her father has always had very high expectations of her. If she fails this genin exam, well, she might even be exiled from her clan. She might lose her whole family." Kakashi looked between Naruto and Sasuke curiously. "I'm sure you two boys would know _all_ about what it's like to not have a family."

The atmosphere turned tense. The three genin were staring at each other and Kakashi quietly. The jounin let out an exaggerated sigh.

"I'll tell you what…" Kakashi continued pleasantly. "…I'm probably being unfair. So _I'm_ going to go for a walk around the village, maybe grab some lunch, and I'll be back in about two hours, and while I'm gone, I'm going to let the three of you have a _really_ good think about who deserves to be a ninja the most. After all, there are only two bells."

He slowly started to stroll away, hands in pockets. Before Kakashi left, he paused, glancing back to his team. "When I get back…" Kakashi muttered quietly, his voice turning dark. "… I _expect_ to see two genin waiting with bells and one without. Whoever has a bell and whoever does not is entirely up to you. I will happily fail the whole group if I have to."

The jounin walked away. Nobody moved. After a few seconds, Sasuke turned to Naruto, with a dangerous scowl on his face. "Naruto," Sasuke murmured coldly. "You're going to give me that bell _right now_."

* * *

><p><em>Oh crap<em>, Naruto thought with panic as he stared at Sasuke's expression. The dark-haired genin quietly cracked his knuckles. Naruto's grip around the bell tightened. His three other clones were still unconscious, and it was just him vs Sasuke, one on one. The thought wasn't reassuring.

It was a while before anybody spoke. "Allow me to explain what's going to happen," Sasuke said finally, in a forcefully steady voice. His eyes blazed with dark anger. "You're going to quietly hand me that bell, and you're going to walk away."

"And why should I?" Naruto said defiantly, shifting his body weight slightly.

"Because if you don't," Sasuke replied in painful calmness. "I'm going to beat you bloody and then I'm going to take the bell. So save yourself some hurt and just hand it over."

"No!" Naruto snapped. "I got this bell fair and square, you arrogant jerk!"

Sasuke's eyes flared with anger. Hinata trembled nervously. "Um… we can't fight like this… let's just be reasonable!" She protested timidly.

"Oh, I am being reasonable here!" Sasuke retorted, his voice breaking with rage. "As matter of fact, I'm going to be so reasonable that I'm going to let you keep your bell, fine," he said motioning at Hinata. "I've got absolutely no problem with _you_, Hinata. Instead, I'm going to take _his_ bell, because he's the dumb, dead-last waste of space around here!"

"Go to hell, jerk!" Naruto shouted loudly, pushing the bell safely into his pocket of his jumpsuit. "Why do you think you're so special, you pompous prick?!"

The last residual of Sasuke's composure vanished. "_Fuck you!_" Sasuke bellowed. The intensity of statement caught Naruto off-guard. "_I'm_ special because _I'm_ the better ninja. _I'm_ special I spent all that time in classing _training_ and _studying_ to get better, while _you_ were goofing around. _I_ was the one who earned first place by actually working for it, while _you_ earned being dead-last by not doing a damn thing!"

The fury in Sasuke's voice stung. Naruto's fists clenched. "You don't know a damn thing!" Naruto screeched. "You're a stuck-up bastard who's had everything handed to him on a silver platter because you're the favourite!"

Naruto couldn't stop himself. There was too much adrenaline pounding through his body and his arm acted on its own. Suddenly, Naruto's fist shot out, catching Sasuke firmly on the chin. The dark-haired genin reeled backwards, but took the blow like a champ.

The next second, Sasuke's foot collided with Naruto's stomach and suddenly Naruto was flying backwards into the dirt.

"_You've got no idea what I've been through_," Sasuke growled through gritted teeth, standing over Naruto. "Don't you _dare_ think that you know me, because you haven't a got a clue. And you don't have any right to take my dream away from me."

The kick was so hard that Naruto could barely breathe. He was gasping for breath as he glared at Sasuke. "You're an obnoxious bastard with a stick stuck up his ass!" Naruto spat.

"And you're an irritating moron with absolutely no talent," Sasuke replied coolly. "But do you seriously hate me just because I'm _better_ than you are? What the hell does that say about you; that you would blame someone else rather than try to get better on your own?!"

"Shut up!" Naruto screamed, jumping up off the ground and swinging a wide uppercut at Sasuke. The other genin easily dodged, and retaliated with a quick swipe to Naruto's legs. In an instant, Naruto was face down in the dirt.

"Stop it!" Hinata screamed loudly, looking between Sasuke and Naruto uncertainly. She was clutching her bell with both hands. "Please, just stop it…!"

Sasuke didn't seem to hear her. "You're a _monkey_ that doesn't deserve to be here," Sasuke growled angrily at Naruto. "You think that just because you've got big words than that makes you a ninja?! Until you can support those words with actions, then you belong in the Academy with all the other little children. _That's_ why I'm going to take that bell off you."

Naruto's head was spinning as he staggered off the ground. Kakashi had been quite gentle with his ass-kicking, but Sasuke held nothing back.

"Don't talk down to me, bastard!" Naruto snarled, struggling for breath. "You're the one who is too stuck up to even look at anyone face to face!"

He launched himself at Sasuke with a wide kick, but Sasuke caught Naruto's leg by the ankle, and spun him around, sending him skidding into the dirt.

_Goddamn it!_ Naruto cursed as he spat out dirt. In an instant, he remembered the reason why Sasuke got top marks in taijutsu all those years at the Academy.

"You seriously think that, don't you?" Sasuke muttered coldly. "You seriously think that it's me? Just tell me something; exactly how easy _was it_ to pass that bell to Hinata instead of me?"

Naruto didn't reply. He was still clutching his chest painfully. Sasuke stared at him darkly. "The truth is that you dismissed my whole life without a second thought," Sasuke muttered quietly, his eyes burning holes through Naruto. "So I'm just going to do exactly the same."

He raised his fist again. Naruto's body tensed, and suddenly he was charging straight into Sasuke. The dark-haired boy lashed out with a fleeting hook to Naruto's shoulder, but Naruto had momentum. He shoulder barged into Sasuke's chest, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Bastard!" Naruto screamed, elbowing Sasuke in the face as they rolled across the dirt together.

"Brat!" Sasuke snapped, kneeing Naruto in the stomach and trying to kick him away. Naruto held on tight and they both tumbled together.

"Prick!" Naruto spat, just as he slammed his head forward with bone-crunching force into Sasuke's face. His nose crunched, splattering blood everywhere. Sasuke yelped in pain.

"_Moron._" Sasuke growled, before wrapping both hands together and whipping out in a devastating double-handed blow. He could feel the air being punched out of Naruto's lungs as his hands crashed into his stomach.

"That's enough!" The shrill voice caught them both by surprise. Suddenly, Hinata was between them, struggling as she pulled Naruto off Sasuke by the collar. "This isn't helping!"

Her voice had never been so strong. Her hands were trembling and the tears were rolling down her face, but her voice was louder than ever. Both Naruto and Sasuke were bruised and bloody, gasping for breath as they stared at her in surprise.

Hinata seemed to falter for a moment. "We can't do this," she said finally, quieter but without the stutter. "We're supposed to be a team. How are we ever meant to work together if this is how Team 7 starts off?"

Sasuke wiped his bloody nose as he staggered upwards. "I don't need a team," he snapped. "I can do just fine by myself."

She glared at him. "Then you're a moron," she retorted. Sasuke blinked at the unexpected insult. "_Everybody_ needs a team."

There was a pause. Hinata glanced back to Naruto, still struggling to stand up. "Everybody including Naruto," Hinata said quietly, her voice gentler.

The silence stretched out again. Naruto was bruised and gasping for breath, but he had stamina. Sasuke was blazing with fury, showing no sign of backing down. "I'm not leaving without a bell," Sasuke snarled.

Hinata's hands were trembling madly. She had to blink repeatedly to hold back the tears, but it wasn't working. She still kept on clutching the bell with both hands, as tightly as possible. Her heart was skipping with utter dread, but then she looked between Naruto and Sasuke and saw the defiance in both of their eyes. Somehow, they both looked similar.

"Fine," Hinata said, gulping in fear. "You want a bell?" With great force of will, she pulled the bell out of her own grasp and threw it at Sasuke's feet. "Here, take mine."

Sasuke blinked in surprise. Naruto gasped. "Hinata, don't!" He shouted, instantly concerned.

Hinata simply shook her head. The tears were pouring down her cheeks and she didn't trust herself to speak. Nightmares of what her father would say flashed in front of her eyes.

"Take your bell back!" Naruto demanded, before turning to Sasuke. "Give her back her bell!"

"No, I don't want it," Hinata whimpered quietly.

Sasuke didn't respond. For a moment, the dark-haired genin looked lost. "Sasuke, give Hinata her bell!" Naruto ordered. "She doesn't deserve to fail!"

"And neither does Sasuke!" Hinata snapped. Naruto had never known her voice to be so sharp before. Their eyes met, and Hinata's voice turned softer. "And neither do you…"

No one spoke. Naruto looked between the two genin in confusion, before turning to stare at his own bell. The anger and tension building up inside of him was unbearable. Naruto felt like tearing out his own hair in frustration. He had to scream just to let the pressure out, pounding his fist against the earth with a dull thud.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Naruto couldn't afford to fail. He had dreamt for so long about being a ninja, it was all he had ever wanted. He didn't think he could take having to go back to the Academy. He refused to fail this test.

But he couldn't pass it either. Not like this.

Naruto clutched the bell so tightly it hurt. Strangely, the image of Iruka flashed before his eyes; smiling gently as the older man jumped in front of shuriken to save his life…

"Argh!" Naruto screamed, before turning to point at Sasuke angrily. "Sasuke! You're an arrogant, self-righteous prick and I have wanted to punch you _right in the face_ since the moment we met! You've got no idea what it's been like, trying to compare to the 'Great Uchiha'!"

Sasuke's lip curdled. "And you're an irritating, immature man-child that I've severely wanted to repeatedly _slap_," Sasuke retorted. He paused slightly. "And you've got no idea how hard is, trying to keep up with what everyone expects you to be."

"Fine," Naruto growled angrily. "So how about we both just accept that neither of us knows a damn thing about the other one?"

There was a pause. Naruto's hands were twitching. "But I suppose we've got to learn," he muttered, very quietly under his breath.

Naruto took a deep breath, and then threw his bell towards Sasuke. Suddenly, there were two bells lying on the ground at Sasuke's feet. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's your choice now," Naruto muttered quietly, defiantly folding his arms as he glared at Sasuke.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was honestly not sure what to expect as he ambled casually back towards the training ground. He was actually twitching with nerves as he thought through all the possibilities. He was a trained jounin; he had been through wars and fought countless battles against the odds, but he was actually <em>nervous<em> with the thought of what he would find back at the training ground.

Team 7 had so much potential. That was one thing Kakashi was absolutely certain about. The only question was whether they would ever be able to use it.

For once, Kakashi wasn't late as he returned to the training grounds. It was early afternoon by the time he came back, and it had been exactly two hours since he had left.

Kakashi hadn't known what to expect, but he certainly hadn't counted on seeing all three members of Team 7 huddled together in a circle, each of them holding a set of cards in their hands. Naruto and Sasuke were both bloody and bruised, but no one was arguing or trying to kill each other. It took a while for Kakashi to register the sight. _They were playing poker_, he thought dumbly. _They were actually all playing poker together._ He wondered briefly where they got the cards.

The genins saw him coming, but didn't turn their attention away from the poker game. Kakashi approached slowly. "Hello there," he said casually to his team.

They each muttered various forms of 'hey', but never even glanced up at him. Apparently, it was quite an intense poker match they were having. Bemusedly, Kakashi took a seat by the poles and waited.

Nobody paid him any attention. After a few minutes, Kakashi finally had to ask. "So then," Kakashi questioned loudly. "Who here has the bells?"

They glanced upwards, but no one responded straight away. "Hmm?" Kakashi pressed. "Anyone?"

Naruto frowned in mock confusion. "I thought Hinata had them?"

She shook her head. "Really? I was pretty certain you took them," she said loudly, with just a glimmer of a smile playing on her lips.

"No," Naruto argued. "I'm pretty sure I gave both of them to you."

"Huh," Hinata said dismissively. "I guess I gave them to Sasuke then."

Three sets of eyes turned to stare at Sasuke. The dark-haired boy just shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know," Sasuke said simply, scratching his head. "I must have dropped them somewhere. They didn't seem that important, anyways."

The three genin returned to their poker game. Kakashi looked between them curiously. He wondered about pushing the subject further, but then decided against it. Kakashi had already gotten the result he was really after.

"Alright then," Kakashi said with a shrug. Slowly, the jounin stood up and started to walk away. "I guess I'll see you all tomorrow at eight, then."

"We'll be there at ten!" Sasuke yelled loudly, before turning back to the game.

They might not have been able to tell, but underneath his mask Kakashi was grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Notes:<strong>

**I actually really like this chapter; I spent a long time trying to get it right. Please tell me what you think.**

**This Team 7 is going to have a completely different dynamic. With the addition of Hinata, the group is a bit less volatile and I think she's a good balance between Naruto's and Sasuke's personalities. Small changes and everything building up quickly.**

**Quick point to the people asking why I replaced Sakura with Hinata: It wasn't to do with Hinata's bloodline, really, I just figured that the teams made a lot more sense that way. Really, Sakura would probably be better off in Kurenai's group anyways; Sakura has always had a talent for fine chakra control like genjutsu and medical jutsu, and Kurenai would be better teacher for that. Likewise, Hinata is a close-combat specialist, so she would probably benefit more from Kakashi as well. Even their personalities just seem to fit better in their respective groups.**


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